Seven Deadly Sins
by Aizen2468
Summary: October 16,Madara, angered by the loss of the Kyuubi, does something drastic, unleashing something that not even he could comprehend. Now, sixteen years later, familiar faces come back to capitalize on a tragic event. Please dont judge by first chapter
1. A Grave Error

Summary: On the night of the Kyuubi attack, Madara, angered by the Kyuubi's failure, does something drastic, unleashing something that not even he could comprehend. Now, 16 years later, plans go into action to capitalize on a tragic event.

Author's notes: My first fanfic. This story will have a few characters with similarities to the homunculus from Fullmetal Alchemist. However, these similarities will be extremely minor. Just to be on the safe side, I'll do a disclaimer for both.

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto, and I claim no rights to it. I also claim no rights to Fullmetal Alchemist.

Chapter one:

Madara angrily trudged down the hallway, pondering on what happened merely an hour ago. The Kyuubi, the strongest of the nine Bijuu, had attacked Konoha on his orders, and had been doing a beautiful job of destroying its population. The Kyuubi was truly a sight to behold as it massacred the citizens of a village. A village Madara had once sworn an oath to defend.

A small smirk formed on Madara's face as he thought of the strongest ninja village's population sent into a state of mass panic at the sight of his faithful pet's terrifying power. But his smirk quickly fell from his face, once more replaced with a grimace when he thought of the downfall of the once mighty Kyuubi. Said downfall being the mighty creature sealed away by the yondaime, most likely to eventually be used against himself.

Konoha truly was the source of all the cruel ironies directed against him in his life. His clan brought into an alliance with the Senju clan, against his will he might add, forming what would eventually be the strongest of the ninja villages. Only for Hashirama Senju to become hokage, when they were supposed to be equals. His clan, once considered equal to the great Senju clan, quickly lost its reputation because of this. Then, when he confronts his clan about their ever decreasing position of power in the world, they turn on him. HIM. Their freaking leader.

He thought of the climactic battle between him and Hashirama that took place at what is now called the Valley of the End. In his opinion, it should be called the Valley of the Beginning, because that place was where he truly started his quest to become one with the world.

He remembered how he and the Kyuubi had been defeated by the shodaime, and now, many years later, defeated once again by the yondaime. Only this time the Kyuubi was sealed away by the yondaime, which is an even bigger defeat than the one at the Valley of the End.

'Damn you Minato'

As Madara reached the door he had been walking towards, he began to mentally go over the checklist of all the required steps to pull off the jutsu he was planning to use. He had recently discovered this jutsu in a scroll he had found in a cave with an odd seal at the entrance. The seal had a design meant to keep certain people out, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out who. It blocked some form of energy, and judging by the complexity of it, the person or persons who created it could have easily had it block chakra energy. This would have prevented any ninja, as these were the ones mostly likely to find the cave because of its well hidden location, from getting inside. Instead they chose to block some sort of energy that he had never seen. Oh well, their mistake was his gain.

Honestly, he would have preferred to wait and study the jutsu a little more before using it, but this recent defeat had clouded his judgment. He needed something to make up for the loss of the Kyuubi.

Madara quickly shook himself of these thoughts as he refocused on the seals he would require to perform the jutsu.

He was in a candlelit room, in the basement of his temporary base in the mountain area of Konoha. All around him were seals of his own design meant to immediately cancel out or kill whatever he summons should it turn on him. He, after all, had not lived this long by being an idiot.

The scroll described summoning a being with an unspeakable power. The power to use humanity's innermost demons against them. While it didn't go into detail, it still gave a general outline that Madara found most appealing. That outline basically being 'unspeakable power.'

'If I can control the Kyuubi, than I can control whatever this thing is.'

The thought of the Kyuubi drove him to redouble his efforts. Anything to reestablish his power, because without the ability to summon the Kyuubi, he felt very vulnerable.

'Well Minato, sealing the Kyuubi was an impressive feat, but I doubt that there's anyone in the village that could mimic your actions and seal away my newest asset,' thought Madara as he began to draw the seals all over the room based on the directions in the scroll.

After finishing with the new seals and double-checking his precaution seals should something go wrong, he started going through the many hand seals needed to activate the jutsu. While the scroll didn't mention using hand seals, which he found odd, he eventually summed it up as a security precaution. After all, missing information is an excellent security device.

It had taken some time, but he eventually came up with hand seals that he was positive would activate the seals.

He went through the last of the hand seals, finishing with Ne (Rat). Just as he hoped, the seals began to light up, but a different color than what he expected. Black energy began to leak from the seals as Madara watched on with fascination.

'Black Chakra, or is this something else,' Madara pondered, wondering if this was related to specific type of energy that the cave's seals was meant to keep out. 'I should have paid more attention to those seals.'

Just as he was thinking that, the black energy died down, leaving the room with only the candlelight to allow visibility once more, and the seals all over the room being Madara's only company. Madara looked at the seals expecting more. When he realized they weren't going to light up again, he knitted his brow in confusion.

In a rare display, he rechecked the seals for a third time, thinking maybe HE made a mistake somewhere. When he realized he didn't, he frowned. Where had he gone wrong? Where was this creature with unspeakable power? Where was his chance at vengeance?

Just as his thoughts were going south he heard a noise directly behind him that sounded vaguely like a chuckle. He instinctively activated his sharingan, and looked around the room, seeing no one in the room but him.

''_So, why did you release me_"

He jumped into a defensive stance, now pulling out a kunai, as he heard a voice that sounded like many voices at once speaking. Looking around, still unable to see anyone else in the room, he slowly backed up to the wall to force the potential attacker to attack from the front, left, or right. He once more heard that same chuckle as before.

"_Please, I'm not going to kill my savior_" The voice spoke in what was clearly amusement.

Madara slowly slid his kunai back into his kunai pouch, while simultaneously sliding another kunai that was hidden over his wrist partially into his hand. This one was hidden from view by the sleeves from his cloak.

'Just in Case,' Madara thought cautiously. Best not to be unarmed with a creature he can't see in the room with him. Especially when the scroll said this creature had an unspeakable power.

"So you're invisible," Madara said in a polite voice, trying to start off friendly conversation with his future potential ally. No reason to be rude to his investment just because he can't see him.

"_Hardly, I'm incorporeal_," the voice spoke back, amused at the human's attempt at composure after he had nearly started swinging his puny knife around in an attempt to fight an enemy he couldn't see.

"What do you mean by incorporeal?" Madara asked with a slight bit of trepidation.

"_It means I don't exist on the same plane as you humans. In other words, I have no body_," the voice spoke back with what Madara could barely catch as to having a trace of regret. No scratch that, only one of the many voices talking sounded regretful.

Madara considered this before he immediately started to have a near panic attack, though he tried his best not to let it show.

'Shit! That means my security seals are useless.' His seals were designed to immediately attach themselves to anyone or anything in the room that didn't have his chakra signature with a single hand seal. The seals would then break down all chakra in whatever it attaches itself to, effectively destroying or dispelling it, depending on whether it was a summoned beast or not. If he could have somehow fit the Kyuubi into this tiny room, these seals may very well have killed it, or at the very least severely weakened it. The only reason that these seals were unusable against the Kyuubi was because these seals had to completely surround the target, leaving not even a centimeter of space between them. Something that could only be done in a place with a ceiling. He doubted like hell if anyone would be able to fit the Kyuubi in a room completely covered in these seals, and he also couldn't think of anyone who had knowledge of this technique.

"Well that sure is interesting. I wasn't expecting the powerful being the scroll spoke of to exist on another plane," He said, doing a good job of keeping the panic out of his voice.

"_Why did you release me,_" The voice repeated its earlier question, dropping its amused tone in favor of a more neutral tone. It was obviously bored with his attempts to be friendly.

"Straight to the point, eh, I like that," Madara said approvingly, "well to tell you the truth, I need another partner since my recent one bought it at the hands of my enemies," Madara said in a friendly voice.

"_Slave_"

"I'm sorry?" said Madara confused.

"_You need a slave_" the voice countered in a neutral tone.

Madara staggered back like he had been slapped, which was pretty hard to do since his back was still against the wall.

"No, No, No, nothing of the sort, I'm offering a partnership. We would be complete equals. I swear to you that I would not try to take advantage of you. Why would I attempt to enslave you when I went through all this trouble to release you?" He quickly offered out trying quickly to mend this conversation which had suddenly gone downhill.

"_I've seen all forms of evil, humanity has to offer. Everything that humanity looks down on as wrong or immoral, I've seen it. Lying, one of the more minor evils, is something I can spot a mile away. I can see it float around your soul, hear it spew forth from your mouth like a symphony, smell it like a rich spice, feel it on my non-corporeal body like a gentle caress, and I can taste it. It tastes of pure, sweet, wondrous fear_." The voice said hungrily.

Madara began to sweat as the air seemed to become heavy. No longer did he want to recruit this creature. Now he just wanted to escape with his skin still attached before this thing 'ate' the fear right out of him. He quickly began to faze through the wall as he began to hear the sound of many voices laughing mere inches from his face. Once he made it into the hallway he quickly performed the single hand seal to activate the room's seals, just in case the creature lied about having a physical body. He then hastily used his sharingan's ability to teleport him outside the base.

Once he was right outside his base he immediately created a shadow clone, and both he and the shadow clone began to go through a series of complicated hand seals. This base, a simple looking two-story house, was halfway up a mountain a few miles from Konoha. At this altitude he should be able to completely crush this supposed 'incorporeal' creature.

The shadow clone quickly finished his hand seals, and clapped his hands in front of him.

'Wind style: Great Breakthrough.'

The ensuing mini-tornado tore his house/base to pieces, tearing everything to splinter-sized pieces. The tornado continued on, hitting the side of the mountain causing an explosion of dirt and earth. Madara then finished his jutsu.

'Earth style: Earth Immolator,' he thought before stomping his foot down causing an earthquake. This jutsu is mostly ineffective in combat since it wasn't an earthquake of a huge magnitude, usually used to merely uproot ninjas hiding in the ground. However, in the current landscape, it was the perfect jutsu.

The ensuing earthquake, mixed with the previous destruction wrought by the wind technique created a massive landslide, destroying everything in its path. Madara leapt out of the way, as the landslide swept what remained of his house towards the bottom of the mountain.

Not finished yet, he and his shadow clone went through another series of hand seals. Once again his clone finished first, using the same wind jutsu, clapping his hands towards the destruction at the bottom of the mountain.

Almost immediately afterwards, Madara finished his hand seals before taking in a deep breath. Then he breathed out a giant ball of fire.

'Fire Style: Grand Fireball'

The wind propelled the fireball forward at devastating speeds, slamming into the pile of wreckage at the bottom of the mountain, before igniting it into a burning pile of wreckage.

Madara peered down at the burning mess. He stared at it for a good five minutes before he felt it was safe to release his shadow clone. He then fell to his knees, as he began to pant. His current form really couldn't keep up combat for very long. 'I should probably leave. Konoha ninjas will have noticed that.'

"_Are you finished_" The voice spoke not ten feet behind him.

Not missing a beat, Madara spun around, activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, and burned everything within a football field sized diameter behind him to ashes with the black flames of Amaterasu.

"_Amusing, but I told you I don't exist on your plane_," said the voice from within the black flames.

Madara pulled out two kunai, and prepared to use Susano, 'No, screw this. I'm not about to be killed by a damn ghost that I summoned.' He began to think of a plan to escape while hiding within Susano's protective shell as it slowly formed around him.

"_Why are you attacking, I told you I wasn't going to kill you. You seem to be in the habit of forgetting things,_" the voice said, once more amused by the prone-to-panic human standing before it, clothed in the fiery armor of Susano's spectral form.

Madara said nothing as he kept his guard up, wondering if Susano's sword would be able to stop this thing. 'Hell, can Susano even keep this thing from getting inside to me,' thought Madara with mounting distress.

"Well if you're not going to 'TRY' and kill me, then what exactly are you going to do?" questioned Madara as he put emphasize on the 'try.' He was still an Uchiha after all, and if Uchihas were anything they were prideful.

"_I'm going to leave_," the voice replied.

Madara nearly tripped while standing still.

"What, but where are you going to go? More importantly, what do you plan on doing?"

"_Nothing you can do anything about_," the voice replied cryptically.

"But, what about my offer of partnership? I RELEASED YOU FROM YOUR SEAL DAMMIT!" Madara yelled out in frustration. He immediately tried to calm himself. No use yelling at thin air. People might think he's crazy….er.

"You should work with me. I have excellent knowledge of the world's current state. I could tell that you've been in that prison for a long time, because of the aged condition of the scroll. I can help you." Madara tried once more to reason with it. He could definitely use someone or something that could stand amongst Amaterasu's flames like it wasn't even there. "You said it yourself I'm your savior."

"_Yes, I did say that. And your reward for being my savior is to live for a little bit longer, before your sins catch up with you_," the voice replied with a bit of bite in its voice.

"_Don't worry, I'll come and see you again someday. I promise_," it whispered soothingly as if talking to a child. "_I'll find you if I have to walk to the ends of the earth, search every village, look under every stone, kill every human. I'll find you_."

As he listened to the creature before him speak, Madara could not help but tremble. He began to sweat once again as he felt himself shiver as burning, cold fear gripped his heart.

And when the creature spoke again, it was centimeters from his ear, inside of Susano with him.

"_And when I find you, I'll be many_," it whispered into his ear, before it finally left.

The frightened Uchiha had no idea how long he stood inside of the protective form of Susano, hoping it would keep him safe. Waiting with dread for the voice to return.

Eventually he finally moved from his position, after collecting himself. Choosing to continue his quest to become one with the world, despite his experience with the voice. He would use his contingency plan to achieve his goal, namely Akatsuki.

'And when you show up whatever you are,' Madara thought, 'I'll be many too.'

AN: This being my first story, I have a question for the readers. The first, can anyone give me a site where I can change English words to Japanese for the jutsus in this story? Also, how did I do?

The end of the prologue will take place next chapter. As for the pairings…..I'm not too sure. I won't write any yaoi though. Next chap takes place sixteen years in the future. I have this entire story planned out from start to finish so I shouldn't have too much trouble updating.


	2. A Moment of Weakness

Chapter 2: A Moment of Weakness

_16 years later_

Pain stared at the new form the Kyuubi jinchuuriki had taken with an unreadable expression. After having 'killed' the hyuuga girl in order to demonstrate the true meaning of pain to the boy, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki unleashed an impressive six tails, and encased his body in the evil crimson chakra the Kyuubi was often said to have. He also grew an odd bone structure over his body that looked like it could be the beginning of the Kyuubi's skeletal structure redeveloping itself.

'I wonder if the skeletal structure is for more than just show. An armor perhaps?' Pain thought to himself as he examined his new enemy. He slowly positioned himself into a defensive stance by crouching to the ground. Pain eyed the six-tailed jinchuuriki warily. 'I may need more than the shinra tensai to subdue him.'

Naruto was lost to all comprehensible thought as he growled at Pain like a wild animal growls at a potential meal. He snarled as he reared back, and launched himself at Pain, aiming a clawed hand to tear his face off. Wasting no time, Pain immediately positioned his hands in front of himself, palms open.

"Shinra Tensei"

The invisible force slammed into Naruto with tremendous force tearing the terrain behind him apart like it had been hit by a weapon of mass destruction. The crazed jinchuuriki planted all six tails into the ground behind himself to withstand the force. Once the make-shift hurricane died down, he once more launched himself at Pain slashing at the fake Akatsuki leader like a berserk beast. Pain barely managed to position his chakra disruption blade between himself and Naruto's clawed hand, saving himself from being gutted. The force of the blow still sent Pain flying towards the bottom of a cliff.

Naruto then began to gather energy at the opening of his mouth, which formed a black sphere shaped mass. Once it finished forming, Naruto eagerly ate the condensed ball of chakra.

'This must be the same technique that he used on Orochimaru.' Pain thought as he recalled the information Zetsu had managed to provide, after having tortured it out of a Konoha ninja. Every time a jinchuuriki fights, Akatsuki makes sure to learn as much information as they can about the battle. So when it comes time to capture that jinchuuriki, they'll know which members of their organization to send.

He grimaced as he pulled himself out the small crater he made in the cliff. Pain looked at the Kyuubi jinchuuriki as its body began to bloat after having eaten the condensed black sphere of chakra. 'He only used four tails when he used it on Orochimaru, and the sheer power of the blast broke through Orochimaru's best defensive jutsu.'

Pain placed a single hand towards Naruto, palm open. 'I can't let him unleash it. This body would not survive such a destructive blast.'

"Bansho Tenin"

Once again an invisible force struck Naruto just as he was about to unleash the chakra blast, except instead of trying to repel him, it attempted to pull Naruto towards Pain. However, due to all six tails being anchored into the ground, all the bansho tenin succeeded in doing was altering the trajectory of the blast slightly off course to the right.

As the red beam of chakra spewed forth from Naruto's mouth, Pain dove towards his right to avoid as much of the blast as possible. The red chakra blast tore through the cliff, and kept going, destroying much of the forest behind it. When it was all over, there was a crater that stretched from Naruto to nearly a mile away of destroyed terrain.

Pain slowly stood up, slightly disoriented and looking less for wear as most of his Akatsuki cloak was in ruins. He looked behind himself to see the damage the Kyuubi jinchuuriki had caused, eyes widening slightly at the sight. 'If that would of hit it would have been over.'

Pain looked back at his foe, who already looked ready to continue the fight, despite having just thrown up a chakra beam that could easily have leveled a village. 'I may have miscalculated the threat level of the nine-tails jinchuuriki.'

Pain frowned as he considered his options. 'I have no choice. I'll have to use THAT. I just hope it doesn't kill him. Madara would be most…..unpleasant if I accidently killed him.' Pain, while still keeping a wary eye on the Kyuubi-possessed Naruto, once more examined his surroundings in order to find the best location to use Chibaku Tensei.

'The forest.' Pain made a mad dash towards the forest that Naruto didn't destroy, in the hopes of luring him in. Naruto, seeing his prey flee, lunged after him, both of them taking to the trees. As soon as they both made it into the forest, Pain began to gain a considerable distance between them.

'Your enhanced speed counts for nothing if your mind can't keep up enough to help you dodge trees. You may be faster than me in that state, but you can't concentrate clear enough to give chase while dodging obstacles.' Pain surmised as he brought his hands close together, leaving a small gap between them. Pain concentrated as he began to gather energy into the palms of his hands, centering in the small gap.

After he gathered a sufficient amount of chakra, which created a black sphere similar in shape to the one Naruto ate, he shot both hands towards the sky, and jumped as far away from the about to be destroyed area as he possibly could. Landing by a tree he braced himself just as the Kyuubi jinchuuriki jumped into the clearing.

Naruto was trying his hardest to sniff out the Akatsuki member after he disappeared with his enhanced sense of smell. He had lost sight of him a few seconds ago in the foliage, and his blurred mind had just enough sense to go to the ground floor to attempt to smell him out. His fanged teeth revealed themselves as he grinned. He was behind the tree.

Just as Naruto was getting ready to lunge at the tree, slicing through both tree and prey, he felt a tremor beneath his feet and a pull on his body. He turned to look in the direction of the pull, and saw a rapidly expanding black sphere in the sky. As the black ball of energy increased in size, so did its pull on everything within the immediate vicinity. Chunks of earth, trees, and animals were all pulled into the black ball which seemed to function like a black hole.

Naruto stabbed his six tails into the earth, believing that would save him, only to be surprised as the ground beneath him gave way. He tried to jump off the earth, but as soon as his feet left the ground, gravity took control. With nothing to hold him down, he floated into the black ball, which was completely covered in debris. His body was forced through the cracks of destroyed earth and trees, which was extremely painful, even in this state.

Pain watched on from a safe distance as the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was sucked into the black vortex. He had underestimated his own technique when the tree he had braced himself against began to give way. He had been forced to stay low to the ground and make his way further away from the affected area of the Chibaku Tensei.

'Good. This won't kill him. If he survived being forced through the debris, then the center of Chibaku Tensei will render him immobile while I restrain him.' Pain pulled another chakra disruption blade from the remains of his cloak as he waited for the Chibaku Tensei to end.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

"I can't take it anymore! What do I do? Someone please tell me how to stop this!" Naruto screamed in the corridors of his mind as he kneeled in front of the cage of the Kyuubi. All of his senseis, all of his friends, his whole village. He couldn't save anyone. Everyone had counted on him to become strong enough to fight the Akatsuki. What good was his power if he was beaten by a single member of the organization. All his power was useless if he couldn't protect the people he cared about.

He didn't want to suffer anymore. He didn't want to fight anymore. He was tired of constantly trying to protect people only to lose them in the end.

"Jiraiya, Shizune, Kakashi, even Hinata. In the end, I couldn't protect anyone. Everyone in Konoha is suffering because I'm so weak!" He yelled to the cage in front of him like it was the place he needed to confess his sins. "Please tell me what to do!"

Naruto fell to his knees, out of breath after screaming at the cage. He looked at the floor as he clenched his fists. "Somebody, please tell me what to do." He whispered.

"**Break the seal**" a voice said from within the cage, as a single red eye revealed itself. The eye was easily larger than Naruto's whole body.

Naruto's face snapped towards the cage, to weary to argue with the Kyuubi or comply too its demands. So he instead opted to just listen to it speak.

"**You're weak. You always were. Every fight you won was because I carried you to victory. Every fight you lost was because you resisted my offer of power. Even now, your friends suffer because you choose to only use the bare minimum of my power**." Naruto listened on as the giant fox demon said its peace. The Kyuubi seeing that he was listening, continued to voice its opinion.

"**If you lose, the few precious friends that you have left will die. They will scream for you to help them as the Akatsuki slaughters them like cattle. It will be your fault**." The Kyuubi taunted as Naruto closed his eyes at the image he was given.

"**You've reached your limit, Naruto. Even after all that silly training you did with those pathetic toads, you were still easily beaten. But look at what you've done with a small portion of my power. He had to destroy the entire forest just to stop you**." The fox demon said approvingly.

Naruto opened his eyes again as he looked at the fox, utterly entranced by his words.

"**And it still wasn't enough**." The Kyuubi whispered as it created a mirror out of thin air within its cage. The mirror showed what was happening outside of Naruto's mindscape. Naruto glanced at the mirror and his eyes widened in shock as the image of a giant skeleton looking fox thing with eight tails broke out of the Chibaku Tensei like it wasn't even there.

"Is…..is that me?" Naruto questioned in a frightened voice.

The Kyuubi merely grinned, displaying its impressive row of teeth which looked like they could tear a mountain in half.

"**Break the seal**"

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Pain stared in awe at the eight tailed skeletal monstrosity in front of him that had easily broken free of his strongest technique.

'I think I may have horribly miscalculated.' Pain thought to himself as he took a step back and tried to come up with a strategy to deal with this beast. It had eight out of nine tails now. It was more skeleton than skin, but he was positive those bones could take serious punishment. 'Shit. If he fires a chakra blast like he did earlier, I won't be able to even force him to misfire.'

'Maybe I should have Konan go fetch Madara.' Pain nearly slapped himself in the face. 'No. I'll never be able to live with myself if I have to run to HIM for help. I need to calm down.'

As Pain was going through all his options in his head, the giant skeletal fox lumbered forward, fully intent on eating him alive. Pain jumped into the air dodging the beast as it ate the section of earth he had occupied a half second ago. 'He's fast too.'

While in mid air, he shot his hands forward, palms open, towards the head….skull….whatever.

"Shinra Tensei" He yelled as he unleashed used gravity to slam into the beast with the force of a freight train. Pain's eyes widened in surprise as the shinra tensei had little effect other than cause the beast to stagger back.

'Perhaps Konan and I should make a tactical withdrawal.'

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

"**See what you can do with my help, and that isn't even my full power**," The Kyuubi said as the two of them watched the mirror. Naruto starred with soulless eyes at the mirror, watching the monster he had become overwhelm an enemy who he had easily been defeated by.

'It takes a monster to beat a monster.'

"**If you break the seal, I would protect the village from the Akatsuki for you. I'd do what you couldn't. Just break the seal, and I'll take care of the rest.**" The Kyuubi whispered soothingly to Naruto, crumbling his resolve.

Naruto stood on shaky legs as he slowly stumbled towards the seal on the cage.

"**That's it. Tear the seal off. I'll take it from here**." The Kyuubi spoke like it was soothing a child. Naruto didn't care, he just wanted to save everyone. If the fox would do it, that was fine by him. He came to a stop before the cage.

"**Just reach out and tear. That's all you have to do. I'll stop this man who calls himself Pain from destroying your village. Just tear it off**." The Kyuubi could barely keep the excitement from its voice as its jailor reached a hand and grasped the paper seal.

Just as Naruto was about to tear it off, he stopped himself. 'What am I doing?' Naruto thought to himself as he began to come to his senses.

"**What are you waiting for? Why hesitate? You've come this far! DO YOU WANT THAT MAN TO KILL YOUR FRIENDS!**" The Kyuubi roared from within its cage.

Naruto shook his head and looked into the Kyuubi's eyes with a broken expression. Seeing this, the Kyuubi immediately calmed down, and once again tried to appeal to reason. "**I understand why you're hesitant. But I know something that may disturb you; something about the Akatsuki that you don't know. This information will prove to you why you can trust me**."

Naruto continued to listen, withholding judgment until after the fox demon revealed this so called information that proved why he was trustworthy.

"**You may think that the man you have been fighting is the real leader of the Akatsuki, but he's not**." The fox revealed as it studied the expression on the blonde's face.

Naruto's eyes narrowed when he heard this new information. 'This is bad. Even with the Sage training, I can barely fight Pain on even grounds, and he's not even the leader. As long as there's a leader, Akatsuki can always recover by recruiting new members.'

Naruto had put everything he had into beating this Pain guy, because he was so sure that once Pain was out of the picture, Akatsuki would crumble. If Pain isn't the leader, then...

'It's hopeless. Even if I beat this guy, it won't mean anything.' Naruto thought as he felt himself sink deeper into that dark pit of depression.

The enormous fox demon continued to speak after it noticed the young blonde's darkening expression, "**The true leader of the Akatsuki is a man named Madara Uchiha. He was the clan head of the Uchiha when they first joined forces with the Senju clan to create Konoha nearly a hundred years ago**."

As soon as the Kyuubi saw that Naruto was confused, it proceeded to explain, "**Madara has somehow achieved the ability to halt his aging, even I don't know how. He has harbored a grudge against Konoha, because Hashirama became the first hokage instead of him. He's had a hand in a great deal of Konoha's greatest grievances: the Uchiha massacre, the construction of the Akatsuki, he even started a few wars between the ninja villages. But none of that compares to what happened sixteen years ago on October Tenth, your birthday**."

The blonde ninja's eyes widened in surprise, "No, it can't be."

The Kyuubi's face morphed into one of sympathy and regret as it spoke, "**Yes, with his sharingan eyes, he hypnotized me into servitude, and forced me to attack Konoha. This caused the death of countless ninja's and civilians, as well as the fourth hokage. Because of him, you were ostracized in your village, you were a pariah. Because of him, I'm trapped inside this cage, the prisoner of a pariah**."

Naruto looked down as he felt rage enter his heart as he thought of all the hardships in his life that were all because of that one night. He then looked at the giant fox demon trapped in the cage in a new light. They were both victims of one man's ambition. The Kyuubi never wanted to be a prisoner anymore than Naruto wanted the responsibility of being its jailor. 'Does furball really deserve to be trapped in here if he was tricked.'

"**As you can see, I have no hatred for Konoha, only hatred for one man. And his name is Madara, your true enemy**."

The fox noticed that the blonde boy was considering all the information given. Not willing to let Naruto change his mind, the fox felt that it needed to sweeten the deal. "**To further prove my worth to you, I'll even revive all the people who died in your village today**."

Naruto's mouth fell open in shock as he stared at the fox demon in front of him with unrestrained hope, "You can do that? You can bring back Kakashi-sensei, and Shizune-chan, and Hinata-chan, a-and the villagers? You can bring them all back?" He all but screamed out his questions as he stumbled over his own words. "How?"

The Kyuubi chuckled, "**Have you already forgotten, my chakra has the ability to heal all wounds. However, in this cage, I can only heal you. In order to help them, I must be out of this cage**."

Naruto slowly nodded as he once again placed his hand on the seal, and he stared long and hard at it.

"**I promise you, on my soul, that I will protect Konoha from the man who calls himself Pain, and Madara as well. I promise to bring everyone who died in your village today by Pain's hands back to life. Demons may be evil, but they can't break promises**." The Kyuubi gave its solemn oath as it stared at the blonde boy in front of him who held its fate in his hands.

Released from all his hesitations, Naruto tore the seal right down the middle.

No one stopped him.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Everyone who was alive and conscious in the destroyed village of Konoha looked up as a red beam of light shot into sky, tearing through the clouds, originating from the giant skeletal fox figure. With the light, came a feeling of maliciousness not felt for sixteen years as it swept over every single person in the ruins of Konoha. The light began to stretch over the skeleton of the Kyuubi as the light slowly covered its skeletal body. Once the red light completely encompassed the giant fox skeleton it corroded away from its body in the form of black wisps of smoke.

After the black smoke cleared, every person in Konoha recognized the unmistakable form of the giant red fox with nine tails swishing behind it. Every person felt the fear and dread that always came when you were in its vicinity. And every person knew that they were completely at its mercy in the condition they were in.

After the black smoke completely evaporated the nine tailed fox raised its head towards the sky as it roared its excitement at being released. It then swept its red eyes over to the once beautiful village of Konoha, now nothing more than rubble. The fox demon focused energy on the tip of its snout, which began to take shape into a sphere similar to the black destructive ones Naruto would form when under the influence of the Kyuubi's chakra. The only difference was that this sphere was white.

After the white ball of chakra finished forming, the Kyuubi ate it. After eating it, the giant fox reared its head back before swinging forward, and gently breathing out a red smoke like mist in the direction of the destroyed village. The red fog spread over the forest, making its way towards the people of Konoha. Just as everyone was beginning to panic at this new turn of events, the red mist encompassed them, blinding everything from view. The red fog was so thick that no one in Konoha could even see their hands.

After a few minutes, the red fog dissipated. Every citizen in Konoha looked around in wonder as their loved ones who had died fighting Pain began to slowly open their eyes and move around. They starred in amazement at their own wounds that began to heal right before their eyes. As everyone in Konoha was healed or revived, including the toads who died in the fight, they began to feel hope for the first time that day.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi opened his eye, as he slowly came back to the world of the living. He noticed his pink haired student was leaning over him with tears in her eyes. As soon as Sakura saw him open his eye she grabbed him up in a bear hug, nearly killing him all over again. Kakashi, not wanting to upset his emotional student anymore than she already was, patted her on the head in reassurance. 'Wasn't I talking to Dad by the fire? The last thing I remember was one of those Pain guys attacking Chouji, and I used Amaterasu. I remember feeling so tired.'

Kakashi's eye opened in alarm. 'Wasn't I dead?'

After Sakura let go, she immediately started using a diagnostic jutsu to make sure he was okay. "I thought, no, I know you were dead. I don't know how you're alive, but I'm glad."

Finally noticing he hasn't said anything, she began to get worried, "Are you okay?"

Kakashi nodded his head as he started to sit up on his own free will, "Yeah, actually I feel far better than I should, all things considering. Is Chouji okay?" the copy-cat ninja asked in concern. After all, Kakashi did die trying to save him.

Sakura nodded her head smiling, glad that things were looking up. Just then, Ino, Inoichi, Shikaku, and Shikamaru, carrying Shizune by her shoulder, dropped in.

"So you're back as well Kakashi," Shikaku said with relief. When Shizune opened her eyes, they thought it was a miracle, but they then noticed everyone around them who had died began to come back to life as well. They came to check and see if Kakashi was alive again as well. They might need his help if they were going to have to fight the Kyuubi.

Kakashi put a hand to his forehead to fight the incoming headache. He then turned his lone eye to Shikaku, remembering the situation they were in. "What happened? Where's Tsunade-sama? What happened to the Akatsuki that were in the city?"

Shikamaru decided to interject at this point as he pointed a finger in the direction of the forest. "Before you ask any more questions, you should look over there."

Kakashi turned to look in the direction the pineapple haired boy pointed. His eye widened as soon as he saw the nine-tailed fox, remembering it from sixteen years ago, where it caused the death of his sensei. 'Wait a minute. If the Kyuubi is free, then what about…..'

"Where's Naruto? Is he okay?" Kakashi franticly began to stand up as he prepared to go find his blonde student. Inoichi placed a hand on his shoulder to help him stand, and to stop him from doing something foolish. Sakura also readied herself to head in the direction of the fox demon to save her team mate, just before Ino and Shikamaru grabbed a hold of her to prevent her from throwing her life away.

"We don't know where Naruto is. All we know is that he was fighting Pain right before the Kyuubi showed up." Inoichi replied. He was worried about the blonde ninja too, but right now they needed to think about the people of Konoha. If the fox demon decides to attack, they can't have two of their best ninjas off trying to find someone who was likely already dead. Not only that, but if the Kyuubi's free, then that has to mean that the seal the fourth hokage created failed. Or it would mean that Naruto intentionally released him. Inoichi tried not to think about the implications should the latter be true.

"Tell me everything that happened, as quickly as you can," Kakashi said menacingly as he looked at Inoichi.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Pain stared with barely restrained fear at the several stories tall behemoth before him. Even though this wasn't his real body, the emotions still transferred from the real Pain to this body. And right now, the real Pain was very afraid. 'How did this happen? Madara didn't make any mention about this being possible. The boy shouldn't be able to manifest the Kyuubi onto this plain of existence. Did the seal fail?'

Just as he was thinking this the red fog that the Kyuubi sprayed over the forest and the ruins of the village lifted, and Pain felt something that was equally remarkable to seeing the Kyuubi in front. He turned and looked in the direction of the village he destroyed with his rinnegan eyes and gasped. Little dots that represented life began to sprout up all over the village. Life signs were beginning to appear, life signs he knew he snuffed out. 'The fox revived them. Why?'

The Kyuubi looked down, just now seeming to notice the nervous Akatsuki member, and grinned, its mouth stretching wide to reveal several rows of teeth that would put the greatest of great white sharks to shame.

Pain placed his hands, palms open, forward in a defensive stance, as the giant fox lowered itself into a pounce-ready stance. Just as Pain was about to blast the monster with the Shinra Tensei, he felt the full force of the beast's killer intent when his rinnegan eyes locked with the Kyuubi's feral, red ones. The overwhelming sense of 'wrong' he felt in that one moment actually forced Pain to lower his hands as he tried to steady himself. 'What was that? Was that what evil looks like?'

That one moment of hesitation was all the giant fox needed as it leapt towards the akatsuki member with its maw open, intending to swallow him whole. Pain barely jumped out of the way of the faster than scientifically possible for its size fox as it bit a building sized chunk out of the earth. The fox, not wasting a second, spat out the chunks of earth, and righted its head towards the man covered in piercings who had just regained his balance, opening its mouth to once again try and eat him.

Pain shot both hands forward, using the gravitational power of the Shinra Tensai to repel the several stories tall fox creature. The gravitational blast slammed into the fox with all the force of a locomotive train going max speed, uplifting several surviving trees in the process.

It barely slowed the fox monster down.

The fox once again took a giant bite out of the place Pain had occupied before he was forced to jump away again. However, the clever old fox had prepared for this and brought one of its nine tails down, slamming into Pain in mid-air. Just before Pain, hit the ground, he used a water jutsu to soften the earth by turning it partially into mud. It stilled caused significant damage as the tail slammed him through the muddy, not as soft as he would have liked earth, tearing his skin and clothes.

As Pain slowly rose back to his feet, he reassessed this new situation, no, this new predicament he was in. This thing was far faster than a beast of its size should be. It had four sets of claws, nine tails that act as make-shift weapons, and a whole lot of teeth. Pain narrowed his eyes. His rinnegan could see things that even the sharingan and byakugan couldn't. It was even believed to be able to tell its wielder the future.

Right now, the future didn't look so good.

The Kyuubi raced towards him again tearing chunks out of the earth as its enormous claws dug groves into the ground. As soon as it got close enough, it shot two tails towards him to squash him like a bug. One tail came in from the left, the other came from the right. Seeing only one escape route he jumped upwards, just as the fox demon thought he would. A clawed paw and the other seven tails all came at him from different directions.

Pain's eyes widened at this, not thinking the beast was intelligent enough to set up a trap, utilizing this many body parts. He shot his arms outwards, one left, one right, palms open.

"Shinra Tensei"

Surprisingly, this did stop all the tails from continuing their forward motion. The paw, however, was only slowed down enough for him to avoid being sliced to ribbons. He barely escaped the close call with the claws by maneuvering his body out of the way of most of the damage. One clawed nail still managed to cut several inches worth of flesh off the side of his stomach. Once he landed, he had to immediately jump out the way as the Kyuubi tried to eat him again. 'I need to slow it down somehow.'

He frantically began to form the basis of an insane plan, when he saw the Kyuubi finish eating dirt to once again lunge at him, maw open. Instead of jumping away, he jumped towards the Kyuubi's incoming jaw filled with teeth. The giant red fox's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting Pain to jump towards it. It was completely unprepared for Pain to alter himself in mid-air to land on the snout of the great beast. Before the fox could recover from its surprise, Pain ran right up to its left eye, and placed both hands forwards, palms open, mere feet from the demon's red eye. The Kyuubi knowing what was about to happen, attempted to close its eye, but was too late.

"Shinra Tensei"

The Kyuubi howled in agony as its eye felt like it had exploded under the force of the attack. Pain immediately jumped off when the Kyuubi began to flail about like it was trying to swat an imaginary fly. He brought his hands together, leaving only a small space in between them. He concentrated on gathering energy into that small space.

Merely a few minutes later, the Kyuubi had recovered and opened its left eye, revealing a perfectly fine eye. Pain nearly screamed in frustration at this. 'Damn that monster and its inhuman regenerative powers.' He looked down at his hands where a small sphere had formed, 'It doesn't matter. This is what will do the real damage.'

Before the nine-tailed fox could spot him and resume its rampage, Pain shot the sphere towards the angry fox demon.

"Chibaku Tensei"

As soon as the little ball of destruction reached the Kyuubi's body, it started to draw everything into itself. The fox monstrosity grunted in annoyance as it felt the pull on its body. Annoyance turned into pain however, as the Kyuubi felt trees, boulders, and everything else in the area rise up around it and start slamming into it, trying to reach the sphere which was placed directly over the fox's collar bone. The fox tried to jump away from the ball to escape the mass of debris slamming into it, but the gravitational pull made things difficult. The fox demon, however, was very clever for a reason. It brought all nine of its tails in a protective embrace around its body, hunkering down and waiting for the effect of the Chibaku Tensei to end. No reason to waste energy breaking out of the gravitational pull of the ball. While the powerful fox could do that with a bit of effort, it would still be painful.

Pain watched with anticipation at the area his technique was destroying. It had kicked up a massive dust storm which was clouding everything from view. He was a little surprised that the fox demon didn't try to break out. He had fully expected that, and was prepared to use Shinra Tensei to force it back into the destruction zone, but instead it stayed right where it was. Whatever the fox was planning, it couldn't be good.

As the dust began to settle, and Pain saw the relatively unharmed form of the Kyuubi, he realized it was hopeless. Pain bit his lip in an attempt to fight back his scream of frustration. Not only was beating this thing nigh impossible, but capturing it and sealing it into the Akatsuki's secret statue? 'No choice. Its Madara's pet. He should be the one to deal with it anyway. If he could control it sixteen years ago, he should be able to do it again.'

As the tails began to uncoil from the Kyuubi and it menacingly rose to its full height, pissed off beyond imagination, it began to swing the tails in an odd manner, much like snakes dancing to a tune. Pain watched in confusion as the creature's tails gathered into a tangle, before sweeping towards him creating a mach three tornado.

Pain gasped in shock as soon as the tornado came to life, the shock almost preventing him from bringing his hands forwards. The tornado came at him at fast speeds, increasing in size and velocity as it neared. Just as it came within a few hundred yards and Pain felt the very ground beneath him begin to tremble from the pull of the tornado, he unleashed the Shinra Tensei in short bursts. Instead of unleashing it all at once as he usually does to cause maximum damage, he released just enough to counteract the tornado's pull. He watched in wonder as the tornado passed right over his protective barrier he had created until he was standing in the middle of the tornado. He may call himself a god, but even to him this was the single most incredible thing he has ever witnessed. He stared as everything around him was torn apart by the two conflicting forces, until the terrain looked like a battlefield. When the tornado finally dissipated, Pain released his technique, and fell to his knees gasping for air.

'It….It really can create tornados. Just like the stories say. Madara, how on earth did you manage to control something like that.' Pain thought as his respect for the man he despised grew, as well as his fear.

The Kyuubi, noticing that its prey survived the twister, gathered energy at its snout. The energy formed into a large black sphere.

Pain's eyes widened as his mouth opened in horror, recognizing what was about to happen, 'No! I can't stop it.'

The black sphere, having finished forming, floated ominously in the air. The Kyuubi grinned at Pain as it ate the ball of evil energy. The Kyuubi reared its head back, before swinging its head in a sweeping motion, releasing a red beam of chakra from its mouth.

The red beam swept in an arc towards Pain who didn't bother trying to use his powers to stop it. Nothing could stop that. He instead opted to jump as far from harm's way as possible. Despite the blast missing him by several hundred feet, the explosive force still succeeded in blowing him many yards backwards. Pain bounced off the ground like a pebble skipping across a lake, before he finally landed in a broken heap.

He didn't get back up.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Nagato, or the real 'Pain,' opened his eyes, and looked over to his partner Konan, who was looking from their view the mountain top gave them at the battle below. Her face held a look of worry after witnessing the red explosion.

"Konan"

She turned to look at him when he called her name. Her face twisting back into the neutral expression she was famous for.

"We're done here," Nagato said as his machine uprooted itself from the ground.

Konan's lips curled into a grimace, "What about the Kyuubi? Madara will be most displeased if we return empty-handed." She knew he was right to call it quits, but she still felt he needed to be aware of the danger of failure.

"It's his pet, he can deal with it. Right now were defenseless, we need to withdraw." Konan nodded her head when she heard this. As the machine carrying Nagato, and Konan made ready to leave, Nagato eyes narrowed. 'I almost forgot.'

"Konan, when the coast is clear, recover God-Realm Pain." The blue haired Akatsuki member slowly nodded her head. The other Pains bodies were expendable, God-Realm wasn't. Call it sentimentality if you will.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Naruto opened his eyes as he recovered from unconsciousness. He was lying in a ditch about a quarter of a mile from Konoha. He looked down at himself to make sure he didn't get stabbed by that freaky Pain guy. He grimaced when he saw that his shirt was torn right down the middle, and there was a giant hole in his stomach that was scabbed over. Naruto tried to sit up, but immediately found out how exhausted he was, and collapsed back onto the ground.

'What happened?' Naruto craned his neck to the left when he heard a loud noise, eyes widening at the sight. 'Where did that twister come from?'

Shifting his eyes from the tornado to the red object in the background brought back all his memories. 'I freed the Kyuubi, and he's fighting Pain just like it promised.'

Naruto couldn't keep the grin off his face when he thought of the irony of this situation. 'You wanted the Kyuubi you freaky pierced bastard, well there it is. Enjoy.'

Shortly after he thought this, he saw a red flash in the distance, before a massive explosion covered the landscape. His mouth fell open in shock at the sight. The Kyuubi truly was a terrifying beast to behold.

'Good thing we're a safe distance away from Konoha.'

As the fires from the chakra blast died down, Naruto noticed that the Kyuubi seemed to be making its way towards him. As the massive fox beast traveled at a relaxed pace towards him, Naruto couldn't help but feel a slight bit of trepidation. A few minutes later, and the Kyuubi was towering over his prone form. It looked down on the weak, battered body of its jailor with a neutral expression.

Naruto decided to break the silence first, "You kicked his ass."

That brought a grin to the old beast's face as it thought of its first battle in over sixteen years. It felt great to stretch the muscles that were stiff from being cramped into a cage for such a long time. The man covered in piercings had given the magnificent monster quite the workout.

"**I did promise to protect your village from the man who calls himself Pain. Did you ever doubt me?**" The Kyuubi asked with an infectious grin. The grin spread its mouth wide, showing off its deadly array of teeth.

Naruto merely grinned at this. He would have rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment if it didn't hurt to move. "Nah, I had complete faith in ya."

The Kyuubi chuckled. Even battered and weak, lying before a several story tall beast of legend, he was unafraid. '**Uzumaki, you never cease to amuse me.**'

"So, how come I'm still alive? I half expected to be torn to pieces when I unsealed you."

The Kyuubi shook its head at the stupidity of its jailor. He went from impressively brave, to asking stupid questions**. **"**Releasing me doesn't mean you automatically die you foolish fleshbag. The seal was meant to bind me to you while slowly forcing my chakra to get used to melding with yours for whenever you needed it. Unlike other jinchuuriki seals, yours has the ability to draw my chakra from me, with or without my permission. It was designed with your best interests in mind. Very user friendly.**" 

Naruto nodded his head only half listening to what the fox was saying before his mood seemed to somber down a bit as he remembered something. He bit his lip in nervous apprehension at the answer to his next question. "What about the other thing you promised?"

The Kyuubi seemed confused for a moment before its eyes lit in recognition. The beast nodded its head before answering. "**As per our deal, the people** **of your village have been revived, and their wounds healed.**"

Naruto felt like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders as he breathed a sigh of relief. He looked up towards the clouds with a smile on his face before replying to the beast that had saved his life, the lives of his friends, and his village.

"Thanks, you really came through."

The Kyuubi's grin came back full force, even wider than before. "**It seems you remembered one thing and forgot another**."

Naruto brows knitted in confusion, "Huh"

"**I promised you three things, not two**"

Naruto was still confused and racked his brain in an attempt to remember this third promise that the Kyuubi made. 'What the hell is that stupid fox talking about? Third promise?'

The demon fox, seeing his confusion, decided to remind him of their deal. "**Since you can't seem to remember, let's retrace your steps**."

Naruto gave him a 'get on with it' look.

"**I promised to bring your friends back to life**"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, thanks again. And you also said you'd protect Konoha."

"**No**"

The blonde once again wore a look of confusion, "What do you mean no? You promised to protect Konoha. I remember you saying that."

The Kyuubi laughed at this, its red eyes staring into Naruto's own, "**I promised no such thing. I promised to protect the village from Pain. That was the second. And I succeeded in this task.**"

The spiky haired ninja's expression didn't change after the fox demon's explanation, "I don't get the difference?"

"**There's a big difference**," the fox didn't clarify anymore than that.

Naruto sighed, getting annoyed with the age old beast's love for dramatic build-up, "Then what was the third promise."

The Kyuubi's grin became downright nasty, "**I also promised to protect your village from Madara**."

The blue eyed ninja blinked, 'That's it?'

The Kyuubi continued to speak either unaware of its listener's confusion or uncaring of it, "**Madara has many powerful abilities that have given him control of such a powerful organization like the Akatsuki. Even I know enough to be wary of him. Defeating him will be difficult, maybe even impossible, especially when his sharingan has the ability to control me. I don't know if I'm capable of resisting him**."

Naruto's eyes widened at this new information. That is worrisome.

The fox demon's twisted grin was still in place, even after speaking of the possibility of being placed under the renegade Uchiha's control again, "**Unfortunately, I don't think I can protect the village from him the way I did against the one called Pain. Not as long as he has the potential to control me**."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, "What, are you trying to weasel out of our deal?"

The Kyuubi's laugh was long and mocking. Its head reared back as it laughed in pure amusement at its jailor's attempt to appear threatening. When the fox finally stopped laughing, it attempted to clarify to the poor, confused human, "**Of course not Uzumaki. I would never break a promise. That is not the demon way. Promises are like contracts to us; they cannot be broken**."

"**I can't fight him like I did the corpse one. There's too great a risk of him taking control of me**."

Naruto frowned, 'that would be a big problem. It'd be just like the Kyuubi attack sixteen years, all over again.'

"**But I can still keep my promise to you, so relax**." The demon said in a soothing voice, grin still in place.

Naruto was beginning to get seriously annoyed with the stupid fox's voice, and wished he'd just get to the point, "What are you talking about? If you can't fight him directly, then how can you protect Konoha from him?"

The monster's eyes shined with a predator's gleam, and the sunlight reflected off its teeth as it grinned evilly at the weak and helpless young blonde before it, "**By destroying it first**."

Naruto's eyes widened and his mouth opened in horror, "W-what did you just say?"

The Kyuubi's eyes were glowing red with malicious glee as it smiled evilly at its jailor, "**If I destroy Konoha, then Madara will be incapable of harming your village. After all, he can't destroy something that's already destroyed. This is the only way I can protect Konoha from Madara, and keep my promise.**"

"N-no, you can't be serious. You promised. You said…..you said you would protect Konoha," The blonde ninja despaired. 'This can't be happening.'

"**It's unfortunate, but this is the only way I can protect Konoha from Madara**," The demon said, its voice dripping with mock regret, unable to stop grinning. '**Oh, how the tables have turned Uzumaki**.'

"HOW THE HELL CAN YOU CALL DESTROYING SOMETHING PROTECTING IT?" Naruto screamed out. He had believed the fox in his moment of weakness. The fox had been the one to comfort him in his moment of distress. When he was ready to call it quits and just let Pain win, the Kyuubi had been the one to tell him to keep fighting. It told him everything he needed to hear. It promised to give him everything he thought was unattainable, only to twist his promise into an excuse to kill them all. It even went as far as to call them equals.

'It was all a lie.'

Naruto heaved out after yelling out his frustration, the action leaving him drained.

"W-why would you even bother p-promising to bring everyone back i-if you were just going to kill them all anyways?" Naruto asked in a rasped voice.

The Kyuubi merely shrugged its large shoulders, "**An ant's an ant. It makes no difference if I kill it now or later. It makes no difference how many there are. It makes no difference how much they struggle or how much they beg. They'll all be squashed in the end**."

Naruto glared up at the demon fox with all the hate he could muster. He tried to sit up, to move his body, but he couldn't get his body to listen. 'I have to stop this from happening. I released the Kyuubi. If anything happens to them, it'll be all my fault.'

The monstrous fox noticing he couldn't move, smirked, and turned its back on him, changing direction towards Konoha. "**Since I'm doing everything in my power to protect your village from Madara, I want you to do me a favor: stay right there and watch your village burn, its people scream, and your precious friends beg me for mercy as I eat them alive. It's the least you can do for all the trouble I'm going through to help you.**"

The blonde ninja couldn't take much more. First Pain destroys the village, then he kills Hinata, and now the fox is going to….

"Please don't. I'll do anything."

The Kyuubi turned its head to peer down at him, its face twisting into a look of mock pity, "**I know, but I can't break my promises. Don't worry I'll come back to protect you too, after I complete my promise to you**."

And with that, the vile fox took off at full speed towards the village of Konoha, with Naruto screaming at it to stop.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

AN: I apologize, I know I said the prologue would end in this chapter, but it was far longer than I thought it would be, so I cut it into two. Next chapter is definitely the end of the prologue. Also, you're all probably curious as to why Minato didn't stop Naruto from tearing the seal. That will be explained later in the story.

Disclaimer: I don't know if I'm supposed to do this every chapter, but just to be on the safe side: I don't own Naruto or Full Metal Alchemist.


	3. Now We're Seven

Chapter 3: Now We're Seven

Kakashi watched the crimson illuminated horizon with a fear he remembered all too well. Sixteen years ago, that same red flash of light had annihilated over a hundred Konoha ninjas. Now, this red chakra blast was being directed at an enemy of Konoha. 'Why? Why would the Kyuubi help us?'

Everyone in the ninja village stared entranced at the massive red beam of light that had destroyed everything a couple miles away. Kakashi had just finished getting the general story of what had happened so far, when a tornado suddenly appeared out of nowhere, followed shortly by the red light everyone was now watching in apprehension.

Just then, Tsunade, riding the toad Gamakichi, dropped down next to the assembled shinobi. After Tsunade jumped down, Gamakichi disappeared in a puff of white smoke. Kakashi sighed out a breath of relief upon seeing her, 'Good, the hokage is okay. With her here, we can finally organize a rescue party for Naruto, and ready a defense should the Kyuubi attack.'

"All Konoha shinobi, assemble at the Western Entrance!" the Fifth Hokage yelled out, her voice carrying through Katsuyu, who had separated her body throughout all of Konoha.

A few minutes later, and all the battle ready ninjas in the village were assembled at what was once the western gate into Konoha. All the best Konoha had to offer stood at the gate, ready to do battle and give their lives if the fox demon should attack.

Among those gathered, was one Iruka Umino, who glared at the ominous nine tailed beast in the distance. Staring at the fox monster brought back the horrid memories of the tragedy, sixteen years ago. All the lives lost, among those his parents, crushed beneath the fox's enormous tails.

Kakashi landed right next to his good friend, Iruka, only to notice the hateful glare on his face.

"Hey, Iruka"

The scarred ninja didn't hear, still lost in thought. Iruka brought a hand up to the scar over his nose. A scar he received on that night. A scar he has to look at every time he stares in the mirror. Even though he holds absolutely no blame on Naruto, whom he loved like a little brother, he still harbors a grudge for the beast just outside their village.

"Iruka!"

Iruka jerked when he felt the hand on his shoulder, looking to his right to see Kakashi with a worried look on his masked face.

"You okay?"

Iruka merely gave a stern nod and left it at that.

Kakashi nodded back and turned his attention to their hokage who seemed to be going over possible defensive strategies with Koharu, Homura, and Shikaku.

Indeed Tsunade was going over possible strategies to deal with the fox should it turn its fangs towards them. However, she was having little luck in finding a viable strategy. With their village in the condition it was in because of Pain, fighting off the Kyuubi seemed impossible. Every strategy appeared to end in tragedy.

"We have to evacuate the villagers and academy students. The rest of us should act as a rear guard, and draw the Kyuubi's attention away from them." Shikaku suggested. His eyes betrayed the hopelessness of the situation that his face refused to show.

Tsunade nodded in agreement, "Iruka, Ebisu!"

Said ninjas immediately appeared in front of her. Ebisu wore a grim expression, clearly worried for his village, while Iruka's face was the expressionless mask all shinobis were expected to have on at all times. His was only there to take his mind off of what happened sixteen years ago. By going over the rules of shinobi conduct, he could find a temporary escape. 'Shinobi rule of conduct: keep all emotions hidden.'

"Take all the villagers and academy students out of the village using the East Gate. Take all the Genin with you as support; they would only be slaughtered in the upcoming fight." The fifth hokage ordered.

Ebisu nodded and turned around to do just that, but stopped when he noticed Iruka hadn't moved, "Iruka?"

"I want to fight, hokage-sama"

Tsunade turned back to the academy instructor, his words reminding her of the history between Iruka and the Kyuubi. She shook her head in annoyance, "No I need reliable people to lead Konoha's citizens out of here, and people to lead the genin. They need people to lead them, and that's you two."

When Iruka didn't move from his spot, Tsunade sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, and decided to try a different approach, "Look, I know you want vengeance, but I need you to protect them. If you don't protect them, they may end up suffering what you went through sixteen years ago."

Iruka looked down at his feet, ashamed of letting his feelings get in the way of protecting his fellow villagers. He slowly nodded his head before saluting, "Hai, Hokage-Sama. Please forgive my impudence."

Tsunade waved him off before turning back to her advisors, however she noticed Shizune walking from the gathered shinobis towards her. Tsubade ran towards her niece-in-law/adopted daughter and gave her a big hug,

"I thought you were dead." The only female hokage said.

Shizune returned the hug, glad her mentor was okay, "Who's going to make sure you don't drink yourself to death if I'm gone?"

Tsunade chuckled in response. They quickly broke up the hug, and Shizune gave her mentor a shooing motion, signaling her to get back to her duties. Tsunade nodded and turned her head towards the assembled ninjas, "Where's Naruto?" She yelled out to the assembled ninjas.

As all the ninjas looked at each other in confusion, Kakashi stepped forward, "Hokage-sama, I believe Naruto is trapped near the Kyuubi," He pointed in the general direction of the beast at this statement.

"Request permission to lead a team out to retrieve him," Kakashi's face was tense in apprehension for the answer he would receive.

His worries were for not as Tsunade was of a like mind. She nodded to him, "Right, Kakashi take an ANBU team, and get Naruto out of there."

However, Koharu decided to interject upon hearing this, "We can't send some of our best shinobi towards certain doom at a time like this."

Just as Tsunade was about to tell her advisor off, Homura interrupted, "It's likely Naruto is already dead. We can't risk sending anyone out."

"I'm not leaving him out there to die!" Tsunade yelled out

"One single Genin is not worth the sacrifice of an entire elite squad of ninja. He knew the risks when he attacked Pain." Koharu argued.

"He went out there to protect us from Pain, I won't abandon him!" Tsunade looked about ready to crack heads at this point.

"Tsunade-sama, I know you're worried about him, but you must think of the village. Naruto wouldn't want you to gamble the village's safety for him." Homura offered, attempting to reason with their hokage. Shikaku nodded his agreement, believing it was the most logical course of action.

The blonde hokage despaired upon hearing this, knowing that he would indeed rather die than put the village at risk. Slowly, she nodded her head in surrender, before her gaze hardened, 'Don't worry Naruto, I'll send someone for you when this is over. Please be safe until then.'

Kakashi, however, was unhappy with this conclusion, and decided to voice his two cents.

"I can go by myself. I don't need any support from the ANBU."

Tsunade shook her head in the negative, "No, they're right. We need everyone here."

Kakashi's eye darkened, about to continue arguing, but the hokage cut him off, "I need you here. That's an order."

Kakashi slowly nodded his head. However his expression was still the same, he was clearly upset over the order.

As she turned around to continue preparations for a defense, she stopped as she remembered something.

"Shikamaru, report your findings on Pain!" She yelled out. There was always the chance that Pain might be in cahoots with the Kyuubi. They needed all the information they could get. When he failed to answer, she scanned her eyes over the gathered ninjas to look for him. When her eyes found him, she called out to him again.

"Shikamaru!"

When he didn't answer again she became angry. As she was about to call out to him again, she noticed the confused expression on his face. Shikamaru may get nervous or scared, but he rarely became "Confused."

She walked over to him, placed a hand on his shoulder, and lightly shook him. This snapped him out of his daze, but he still seemed troubled.

"What's wrong Shikamaru?"

"It's strange" He replied, lost in thought.

"What's strange?" the fifth hokage asked in confusion.

"After that large explosion, everything's been so quiet," Shikamaru replied, as he tried to rationalize the silence, "Did the Kyuubi kill that Pain guy? If it did, why is it being so quiet? Why not attack?"

Tsunade's eyes widened slightly at this. 'He's right, it is strange. It's been quiet for a few minutes now. What is it doing out there?'

Just as she was thinking that, everyone saw a giant red explosion at the southern entrance. The massive red light stretched into the clouds, annihilating an entire section of the village. The ninjas began to panic, not understanding what was happening.

Tsunade gasped in shock as she looked at the red light before turning back towards the west. Seeing the fox still standing several miles away, her face became an expression of puzzled horror. 'How did it….?'

Her eyes widened, as she realized what was happening. 'An illusion!'

"Everyone! It placed us under a genjutsu! Break it!" She yelled out to the confused shinobi who were looking at the fox mirage in the distance. All together they placed their hands in the hand seal to break the illusion. As the illusion began to fall, the fox mirage several miles away faded as the real giant fox was revealed a mere mile from the south gate.

'How the hell did it place every single one of us under a genjutsu from several miles away?' Tsunade thought before she immediately started yelling out orders.

"DEFEND THE SOUTH GATE!" As one, all the shinobi sprung into action, as they dashed towards the southern entrance into Konoha. In the distance, they could see the massive approaching form that was the Kyuubi as it headed full speed towards the southern entrance. It was a race. If the Kyuubi got there first the battle would take place in the ruins of their city. If they got there first, they would battle on the outskirts of Konoha, at a safe distance from the villagers escaping in the east.

Luckily, the Konoha shinobi got there first, and once they were all close enough, they immediately began unleashing ninjutsu after ninjutsu technique towards the incoming beast. Massive fireballs were hurled, tsunamis conjured, even miniature wind cyclones were created, all with little to no effect. The Kyuubi shrugged off blow after elemental blow as it closed the distance.

When they all took up position just outside of what used to be the southern gate, Tsunade started to give out orders. "Keep it from entering the village! If it gets inside, it'll attack the villagers before they can completely evacuate!"

Upon hearing these orders, all the Konoha shinobi lined up in a wall, still letting loose with ninjutsu, shuriken, kunai, even genjutsu, anything to even slightly slow down the giant fox demon. The gathered shinobi were all ready to sacrifice their lives so the villagers could escape.

Once the fox was mere yards from the line of shinobi, everyone got ready to enter skirmish mode to try and divert its direction from the village. However, the fox did not change course, it didn't even slow down. Tsunade watched in horror as the fox demon trampled over the line of shinobi, squashing several ninjas to death. The Kyuubi paid no mind to the shinobi beneath its feet as it continued on into the village, wanting to do battle in the ruins of the village it despised.

"Dammit!" Tsunade yelled out in frustration, "Now we have to fight in the village."

The Fifth Hokage started yelling out pursuit orders to try and slow it down before it got to the villagers who were still in the Konoha. 'This is a nightmare.'

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Iruka was multitasking trying to convince a belligerent Konohamaru to keep up, and trying to keep the panicking villagers in line. The young genin had been yelling about how he wanted to stay and fight ever since Iruka told him all genin were to act as escorts.

"My friends are out there fighting, Iruka-Sensei! I can fight too!" The angry twelve-year old yelled. He was fresh out of the academy and still had that over-confident personality ninety percent of all new genins seemed to have.

"We have our orders Konohamaru. Shinobi rule number one: follow the orders of the Hokage, even if you don't like them," Iruka recited. He really didn't feel like arguing with him right now. He had decided to take the lead, and Ebisu was guarding the rear. That pretty much left him in charge. Being in charge of leading thousands of villagers to safety was pretty hard when you had an annoying twelve-year old complaining the entire way.

"But I can't abandon my grandpa's village without a fight. My grandpa wouldn't abandon it, my uncle wouldn't abandon it."

Konohamaru looked towards his feet, "Naruto wouldn't abandon it," he whispered.

Iruka felt for the kid, he really did. He completely understood what he was going through, for he didn't want to abandon the village either. Konoha was their home, and he had friends that were fighting the Kyuubi as they spoke.

He sighed as he placed a comforting hand on the distraught genin's shoulder. "I know Konohamaru, but our job is just as important as those on the frontlines. If they fail to stop the Kyuubi, then these villagers will become the future of Konoha. Everyone on the frontlines is counting on us to secure Konoha's continued existence."

Konohamaru still had his head down, his long bangs covering his eyes. Iruka's eyes softened," I know this is what Sarutobi, Asuma, and Naruto would want."

Konohamaru looked up at this, "Are you sure?"

Iruka grinned, happy that he was getting through to him, "You bet! And when Naruto gets back you can tell him how you bravely led the villagers to safety."

Knohamaru grinned back, "Yeah! The Boss will be super jealous of how powerful I've gotten. And then that old cow Tsunade will have to give up her hokage hat to me."

Iruka bonked him hard on the head, "Show some respect to the hokage, brat!" He yelled, although his angry tone didn't reach his eyes which showed his amusement.

Konohamaru merely smiled while rubbing his head.

They had just finished gathering everyone into a line, and were heading towards the east exit when they saw the giant explosion at the south entrance.

Iruka gasped, 'the south entrance, but how did it get over there?' He quickly compared the distance from the south entrance and their current position before coming to a frightening conclusion, 'That's way too close to here. We need to speed things up.'

"We have to hurry, leave your belongings!" The scarred chuunin called out to the long line of villagers. All the villagers dropped every item and started a near running pace towards the east gate.

Iruka was at the front of the line with Konohamaru right beside him. He looked behind himself towards the villagers who seemed on the verge of panic, 'We have to move faster!'

Just as he was thinking that, a large red explosion rocked the village. Iruka pushed Konohamaru to the ground, shielding him from any debris. After the dust cleared, Iruka got up to survey the damage. His mouth opened in horror at the sight. The entire rear section of the line of villagers had become nothing but a steaming crater. Easily two hundred villagers killed in an instant.

Iruka's eyes widened, 'Ebisu!'

"EBISU-SENSEI!" Konohamaru screamed out as he too came to the same realization. Konohamaru was about to jump off to save his sensei, when Iruka tackled him to the ground.

"Let me go! I can still save him!" He screamed as he struggled to get free.

"He's gone, Konohamaru! We have to save what's left!" Iruka yelled back. The Kyuubi was in the village, they had to evacuate immediately. 'Forgive me Ebisu.'

As Konohamaru calmed down, Iruka got off of him and tried to establish order amongst the thousands of panicking villagers. "EVERYONE, FORM A LINE AND HEAD TOWARDS THE EAST GATE!"

After he finished yelling his orders, he saw something that he prayed he'd never see again. Those eyes. Those evil red eyes staring down at him mere yards away.

Iruka felt a fear he hadn't felt for sixteen long years. It all came back to him. His mother lying broken in his arms. His father yelling at him to run away just before being crushed by one of those nine snake-like tails. His friends dying all around him. It was too much.

Iruka fell to his knees as he grasped his chest. 'Am I…having a heart attack?'

Just as he was thinking that, he felt a hand on his shoulder, "Iruka-Sensei! We have to get out of here!"

Iruka snapped out of it as soon as the hand touched his shoulder. He shakily rose to his feet. "Let's…..Let's go."

'Was that a genjutsu?'

The Kyuubi, which had been watching the puny human's reaction towards the genjutsu, saw him stand up and decided to pounce. It raised a single claw up before dropping it, like an oversized guillotine. Just before it squashed the two humans trying to get away, it felt a small electric shock on its attacking paw which more surprised than hurt it, but still succeeded in stopping its downward fall.

Iruka looked up at the person who had just saved their lives. When he saw the claw come down, he was sure it was over.

"Kakashi?"

"Iruka, get the villagers, and get the hell out of here!" The masked ninja replied before leaping back into the fray. His hand glowed with the power of lighting itself as he charged towards one of the Kyuubi's feet.

"Raikiri!"

The Kyuubi grunted in annoyance as its front-right paw became numb from the effect of the lightning blade. The numbness only lasted mere seconds however, as it raised its claw to swipe at the fast moving silver haired ninja.

Iruka quickly scrambled to get all the villagers out waving his hands like a traffic director while yelling out instructions. Konohamaru was trying his best to make up for Ebisu's absence by mimicking Iruka.

The Kyuubi quickly decided to ignore the silver haired ninja who was trying to run interference, and go for the long line of villagers. Opening its jaw wide, it made a lunging motion towards the long line of villagers.

"SAKURA!"

"RIGHT SENSEI!"

Before the fox could eat any villagers, two super-powered punches slammed into the left side of its face. The force of the blows were so severe, they would have smashed a boulder into tiny pieces. The Kyuubi reared back as it accidently bit its tongue off because of the blow.

Tsunade and Sakura landed next to a heavily panting Kakashi, as they tried to think of a way to lure it away from the villagers. Other shinobi were still trying to gain its attention through the use of ninjutsu.

"You okay, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked

"Yeah, thanks I wasn't really doing much good." Kakashi said

"Don't let your guard down, that won't slow him down for long," Tsunade said as the Kyuubi quickly recovered from the two powerful punches.

Down around the Kyuubi's feet, shinobi were trying to take advantage of the first sign of pain the Kyuubi's shown since the battle began. Shadows danced around its feet, attempting to slow it down. The Akimichi clan members were doing their best to match the Kyuubi's strength by increasing the size of their limbs, with little success. The Inuzaka clan barreled into the Kyuubi's feet, hoping to topple it over. The best of the Hyuuga were using their rotation techniques to aid the inuzuka, all to no avail. The Aburame's were trying to rob the Kyuubi of its massive chakra supply. However, they were mere mosquito bites to the great beast that was the Kyuubi. The Yamanaka clan members were throwing shurikens and kunais with exploding tags, for they did not dare try and enter the fox demon's mind. The few that did try fell to the ground screaming as their minds were destroyed.

After the Kyuubi regenerated its tongue, it looked back towards the escaping villagers. It crouched low to the ground swinging its tails around itself to clear away the pesky ninjas, before leaping several hundred feet into the air. The villagers watched in terror as the Kyuubi jumped over them all, and landed on top of where the east gate used to be.

After it landed, it crouched low to the ground again before it started swinging its tails in a mad dance that resembled snakes dancing to a tune.

Iruka's eyes widened as he recognized those tail movements from sixteen years ago, 'Oh no.'

"EVERYONE HOLD ONTO SOMETHING!" He screamed out to the long line of villagers. All of the villagers started searching for something to grab onto, as the shinobi tried to stop it from unleashing its attack on them. All to no avail, as the Kyuubi brought the tangled mass of tails forward in a sweeping motion, creating a slightly smaller tornado than last time because of the shinobi attacks.

As the tornado approached the front of the crowded villagers, Iruka once more grabbed Konohamaru and tried to shield him from the incoming twister. The tornado swallowed what was left of the wreckage from Pain's attack into itself as it traveled through the village. Villagers and ninja alike were drawn into the vortex, as others were crushed by the debris. When the twister had traveled the entire length of the village, it finally dissipated, leaving a trail of destruction that stretched from the east entrance to the west.

When it was all over, Iruka cautiously rose off of Knohamaru, and looked around. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Katsuyu, who had once again separated herself to protect the villagers just like when Pain had blown up the village. He looked to his left to see a young teenager, barely older than Konohamaru, lying completely still. His body had been crushed by debris. Iruka looked away from the sight. 'Katsuyu couldn't save everyone, and I doubt she'll be able to do that again.'

He looked down to make sure Konohamaru was okay, panicking slightly when he saw that brown haired boy's face was covered in blood. He relaxed when he saw the young genin stand up on his power.

"I-I'm okay" He rasped out.

Iruka patted him on the head, before looking around, trying to spot the hokage. He saw her a few dozen yards away trying to yell out orders. She was holding her left arm which was clearly fractured. He looked to his right, and saw Kakashi struggling to stand. He had his sharingan out, but he appeared to be on his last legs. He saw Sakura by a building trying to heal some poor child whose leg was broken.

The scarred chuunin turned his eyes back towards the Kyuubi, just now noticing the black sphere that it had formed at its snout. His face became one of hopelessness, as he easily realized what the Kyuubi was about to do. 'Are we all going to die here?'

Iruka looked around, hoping to see someone who appeared to have some sort of plan. Someone to save them. All he saw was a bunch of people who were either too terrified to move or those who had resigned themselves to their fate.

Iruka turned to Konohamaru, noticing his terrified expression. But that was not what drew his attention. It was the long cut that stretched horizontally across his nose, caused by the debris in the tornado. Iruka slowly brought a hand up to his own nose, touching his scar. 'That cut's going to scar.'

Iruka smiled down at his terrified student, 'If that's not a sign, I don't know what is.'

"Konohamaru"

Konohamaru stopped rubbing the blood off his face when he heard his name called. He looked up at the gently smiling teacher who taught him how to be a ninja.

"Your grandfather would be so proud of you." Iruka said as he patted his shoulder before jumping towards the Kyuubi, who had just finished eating the black sphere.

"IRUKA-SENSEI!" Konohamaru yelled out trying to chase after him before noticing the ninja wire wrapped around his arm that was stuck to a nearby piece of concrete.

"Iruka!" Kakashi yelled out as he tried to chase after him, only to collapse face first onto the ground. He looked up to see his friend charging the Kyuubi whose body had begun to expand after eating the black ball of chakra.

"Iruka! What the hell are you doing?" Tsunade called to the crazy chuunin. 'He can't stop that thing by himself.'

Iruka pulled a small scroll out of his vest, before biting his thumb. He spread the blood smeared finger over the scroll, unleashing its contents. What was once a scroll became a large sheet of paper with every inch covered in explosive tags. He jumped towards the Kyuubi's mouth as it opened to fire its chakra blast which would completely destroy the village.

'Konohamaru, Naruto, you're the future of the village now. Make them proud as you made me proud.'

Iruka jumped down the crimson glowing throat of the Kyuubi. Just as it fired the chakra blast, Iruka activated the explosive notes, detonating them inside the fox's throat causing a chain reaction. The Kyuubi reared its head back as thousands of mini explosions went off inside its throat. The chakra blast went haywire inside of the Kyuubi's mouth as it tried to find a way to escape. Most of the blast shot harmlessly towards the sky, the rest painfully ripped the fox's throat open. The fox tried to howl in agony, but its throat was still trying to swallow the explosions, and the holes in its throat prevented it from making audible sounds. Eventually the fox fell over backwards, causing a small earthquake as it landed.

Konohamaru fell to his knees as the tears flowed from his eyes. In three short years he had lost everyone: his grandfather, his uncle, and now both of his senseis. What use was becoming hokage if everyone he cared about died? 'It's not fair.'

Tsunade stared in shock as the fox collapsed. 'He….he did it. Iruka, we owe you our lives.'

She turned around to try and gain some semblance of control over the situation, "Don't let Iruka's sacrifice be in vain! Evacuate the villagers!"

Several of her jounins saluted her before they tried to help the villagers escape out the North Gate, stopping to help those who couldn't move on their own power.

Just as she thought things were taking a turn for the better, she felt a small tremor. She immediately turned towards the fox demon as it slowly lifted itself off the ground. Its throat was already beginning to mend itself.

'Dammit! Is it immortal?' Tsunade despaired.

Different thoughts were going through Kakashi's head as he glared at the fox beast that was rising off the ground. 'My sensei sacrificed his life sixteen years ago to try and stop it, and now Iruka's has as well.'

Kakashi's sharingan morphed into the mangekyo sharingan, 'No more.'

Black flames shot towards the staggered fox as it sat on its hind legs. The Kyuubi, recognizing those black flames anywhere, positioned all nine tails in front of itself for protection. The black flames of Amaterasu slammed into the nine tails like a tidal wave of fire. This time, the Kyuubi did scream as its tails were baptized by the fire. In an act of desperation, the Kyuubi tore its claws through its own tails, cutting them off at the base. The Kyuubi howled once more in agony at the pain it caused itself. However, within mere moments, the roots of where the tails used to be showed signs of growing back.

Kakashi, whose eye was now bleeding profusely, noticed this.

'Once More,' He readied himself for the inevitable pain another Amaterasu would cause.

The Kyuubi, realizing what he was about to do, immediately shot out a small chakra blast towards Kakashi's general direction. Both of Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise at the incoming red light.

The explosion was small, because it wasn't charged. However the copy cat ninja was still sent spiraling through the air into a pile of rubble.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura yelled as she rushed over to see if he was okay. When she reached him, she saw that he was underneath a slab of concrete. Using her incredible strength she pulled the piece of concrete off of him easily with just one hand. After she pulled it off she started running a diagnostic scan to make sure he was okay.

Kakashi slapped her hands away as he pulled himself to his feet. "I'm fine."

Kakashi turned to glare hatefully at the Kyuubi again, slightly frightening his pink haired student. His eye transformed into the mangekyo sharingan once more as he attempted to use Amaterasu again.

Sakura noticing what he was about to do, stopped him. "Don't!"

Kakashi turned to look at his only female student with a frustrated look, his mangekyo sharingan spinning madly, "Why the hell not?"

She shook her head, "You don't have enough chakra. It would kill you."

The jounin turned back towards the Kyuubi, "That's fine."

Sakura grabbed a hold of his shoulders, "No you don't understand. It would kill you before you even managed to fire it."

Kakashi's eyes widened, before he turned back towards the fox demon. His shoulders started to shake before he punched the ground.

"DAMMIT. WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO?" Everyone around him was going to die if he didn't do something. He had to do something. 'I won't let sensei, Obito, and Iruka's village be destroyed by this monster!'

The Kyuubi was finally back on its four legs, standing upright. Its throat was mostly healed, but its tails had yet to reform. It lowered its eyes towards the two tired shinobi, immediately recognizing the white haired ninja as the one with the mangekyo sharingan. Deciding to go for the biggest threat first, the fox lunged for him. Mouth open wide, fangs bared, and saliva pouring from its mouth, it made ready to eat the sharingan user.

Kakashi was just about to push his pupil out of the way, until he saw movement by the fox's face.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Two voices yelled out, as a matching pair of green blurs slammed into the side of the Kyuubi's jaw. The mighty beast growled in annoyance as it bit its tongue for the second time that day. As the nine tailed fox looked around for the source of its ire, a large scroll was unraveled over its head. The fox looked up to see a scroll, much like a rainbow, extend over its head, before unleashing thousands of ninja tools. The Kyuubi closed its eyes to protect its only body part that could be harmed by the array of ninja tools.

While the fox demon was distracted by the raining shower of weapons, Neiji Hyuuga snuck beneath the main body of the beast. Once he was standing dead center between the four clawed feet of the Kyuubi, the Hyuuga genius began spinning around in a circle, creating a rotational energy sphere around his body in an attempt to knock the fox off balance. However, the demon would not budge.

Other shinobi watched with bated breath, shocked at the bravery and stupidity of team nine, and the lone Hyuuga as he tried to single-handedly knock over the skyscraper sized fox. As they continued to watch, they failed to notice a white flash as it zipped passed all of them, straight for the Kyuubi's face.

The Kyuubi had kept its eyes closed the entire time that the ninja tools fell from the unraveled scroll directly above its head. The old fox had also been trying to keep its balance as it felt the strongest eight trigram rotation it had ever felt in its long live take place directly below its stomach. Even though it was extremely powerful, practically a mini tornado in its own right, it was barely even able to force the mighty fox to budge.

As the last of the ninja tools fell, the Kyuubi cautiously opened its eyes to start looking for the Hyuuga creating the rotation. However, the moment the fox opened its eyes, it was shocked to see a dark haired girl standing on the tip of its snout. The girl's white eyes, usually so gentle, were like ice as she stared into the surprised red ones of the Kyuubi.

Before the fox could do anything, she settled into the traditional Hyuuga stance. The only difference was that her hands glowed with a dark blue chakra. The Kyuubi could do no more than watch as the Hyuuga girl's hands danced around as she too started spinning. The blue energy began leaving lines through the air as she span at a faster pace. Eventually, her hands became invisible to the eye as the blue energy exited from the tip of her palms, creating a giant blue sphere around her body. Much like the Hyuuga's classic rotation, only stronger, it slammed into every part of the Kyuubi's face.

The force of Hinata's custom rotation, and Neiji's, succeeded in toppling the fox over. When the Kyuubi finally fell to the ground, Neiji stopped spinning, collapsing to his knees, and tried to catch his breath. Even though the rotation is a move Hyuuga's often employ on the battlefield, it can still make them dizzy as hell.

Neiji looked up to see Hinata was still going at it. His eyes widened in surprise as the sphere had become like a miniature blue sun, continuously slamming into the Kyuubi. The fox couldn't even move, its body being forced further and further into the ground.

After about five minutes of non-stop spinning, the Hyuuga heir finally fell out of the sphere, landing in a heap right at the cliff of the giant crater she had made. The rotation had destroyed an entire district of Konoha's eastern section. If that area of the village hadn't already been destroyed by Pain and the Kyuubi, Tsunade probably would have been pissed. Hinata turned her body to look down and see that the fox was lying unmoving at the bottom of the hole.

Meanwhile, Gai and Sakura were helping Kakashi to his feet, as Rock Lee stood staring at the giant hole with his jaw on the floor. All four of them were surprised by who they thought was the shyest and meekest of Naruto's classmates, or the Rookie Tweleve, as they were often called. Kiba and Shino, her teammates who were nearby were also shocked, not suspecting their timid teammate could cause destruction on a scale like this.

Hiashi stared wide eyed at his daughter, who he often called the failure of the family. When he saw his daughter standing on the snout of the giant fox demon, he thought she was trying to kill herself in a final act of foolish bravery. When he saw the blue sphere…..

Hiashi surprised expression turned into a proud one. 'I was wrong Hinata. You do deserve to be the future clan head of the Hyuuga.'

His expression turned to worry however, when she fell from several stories to the ground. He tried to go make sure she was okay, but he could barely move after being struck by a brick wall when the tornado went over him. He saw Ko, of the Hyuuga branch clan, go rushing towards her to make sure she was okay.

"Hinata-Sama!"

Hinata turned her head to see that one branch member she had healed when Pain attacked. She smiled, glad he was okay.

Ko came to a stop and leaned down to put an arm around her shoulder to help her up to a sitting position. "Are you alright Hinata-sama?"

Hinata nodded, "Just a little chakra exhaustion, I'll be fine."

They both looked down towards the bottom of the new landscape in the center of East Konoha. The fox was still lying completely still at the bottom, its body was a bloody mess.

"You did it Hinata-sama." The young branch member whispered unbelieving. He had always known that Hinata had a hidden potential, but this was beyond his wildest dreams. 'Maybe you can save the branch family after all Hinata-sama,' He thought happily.

The Hyuuga princess couldn't even sit up on her own power, but she still couldn't stop the smile from reaching her face. 'I honestly didn't think that would work, but I'm glad. Naruto-kun did you see me?'

Hinata's happy thoughts switched to worry as she started to wonder about the condition of her fellow blonde shinobi. However, she washed away her worry, knowing that he could take care of himself. 'You saved all of our lives from Pain. Without you, he would have killed us all.' She stared bitterly at the broken fox demon lying at the bottom of the crater, 'The least I could do was help kill this monster that took so much from us.'

Tsunade finally finished readjusting her arm after setting the bone. She glanced over at the brave Hyuuga heir being supported by the branch member. The hokage couldn't help the smile that formed when she thought of all the potential the new generation showed. 'With kids like you Hinata, maybe Konoha will be just fine after all.'

Happiness turned to confusion when she caught a slight distortion in the air by the two Hyuugas. 'What is that?'

The distortion traveled until it completely loomed over the two oblivious shinobi. To Tsunade, it appeared like she was staring at the two of them through a blurry cup. It only took her a second to realize what was happening, when her eyes widened in horror.

"HINATA, KO, GET OUT OF THERE!"

Hinata and Ko turned to look in confusion to their hokage, who was quite a distance away. She appeared to be yelling something, but no words were coming out of her mouth. It was only thanks to Hinata's byakugan being active that she could read her lips.

"YOU'RE UNDER A GENJUTSU! GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!" Hinata's eyes widened when she realized what the blonde hokage was saying. She quickly turned her eyes to the bottom of the hole. 'But the Kyuubi is still….'

Her mouth opened in terror as the bloody fox in the bottom of the crater dissolved in wisps of black smoke. Both of the Hyuugas turned their heads to look back at the hokage, only now noticing the fading illusion. Like an invisible curtain being pulled away, the Kyuubi revealed itself, all nine tails fully reformed, and its body appearing completely unharmed. Its teeth were on full display as it grinned down at them, its mouth watering at the thought of eating someone with the Byakugan eyes.

"**The Byakugan isn't the same as the Sharingan, but I suppose I can't be picky when it comes to revenge. A Doujutsu is a Doujutsu."** The fox sighed as it stared hungrily down at the two of them. It sounded almost regretful, like it was getting second rate food at a restaurant.

"**Do me a favor and struggle. I like my food to squirm and scream as they die**."

'B-but w-when did it?' Her eyes widened in realization. That brief moment their eyes locked. 'But how did it trap Ko and everyone else?' She had no time to ponder on this as the fox brought its front left clawed foot down on them. Ko, making a split-second decision shoved Hinata down off the cliff she created. She rolled all the way down to the bottom of the crater to the spot she thought the Kyuubi had previously vacated.

When she finally came to a stop, she placed an elbow under her stomach to lift herself up. Unfortunately, all the exhausted Hyuuga could do in her present condition was lift her head up to see Ko completely trapped beneath the demon fox's enormous claw. Hinata tried to scream for someone to save him, but she could only rasp out a whisper. Several of her ribs had been broken on the roll down. She stared transfixed as the Kyuubi slowly inched its face down to the trapped and frightened branch member.

Ko turned to stare down at the Hyuuga princess at the bottom of the crater. His features hardened. He had to be strong for Hinata-sama.

"Hinata-sama! Please save the branch family! You're the only one who can!" Ko yelled to Hinata as the Kyuubi's mouth opened wide.

Hinata turned her head away as the Kyuubi ate Ko alive, his screams echoing across Konoha. She tried to be strong for him, but she couldn't stop the tears.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Tsunade glared at the Kyuubi as it gruesomely ate another one of her ninjas. She was currently healing Shikamaru's broken shoulder. He had barely dodged one of those swishing tails as it came crashing down, but had still received a broken shoulder as a result of the force of the tail impacting the ground. Tsunade bit her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood as she watched the Kyuubi giggle at the few shinobi that still had enough strength to fight as they danced around its feet. The fox demon looked like it was immensely enjoying tearing her fellow ninjas apart. 'No matter how much damage we do, he just regenerates and comes at us again. He looks like he's at full strength while we barely have anyone who has anything left to give.'

She turned to the newly arrived team nine. She had to admit she was glad to see them. "Gai, how's your team? Can they fight?"

"Hai, hokage-sama. Give your orders, and they will be carried out with the full power of our youth!" Gai yelled out, his enthusiasm the only light on this God forsaken battlefield.

"Hokage-sama!" Tsunade turned around when a chuunin dropped down next to her. He looked worse for wear. "All the civilians, academy students, and genin have succeeded in evacuating from Konoha through the North Gate."

Tsunade sighed in relief, 'Finally, good news.'

Shikamaru however had to be the bearer of bad news, "That's not going to be good enough. If the Kyuubi beats us here, it could easily catch up to them." He replied grimly, rotating his healed shoulder. He failed to notice Tsunade's glare at sullying the good news. Or maybe he chose to ignore it.

The chuunin seemed to grow uncomfortable when Shikamaru said this, because he knew he was right. Even Gai seemed to nod his head in grim understanding of the situation. "He's right Hokage-sama," the chuunin replied with a despondent tone.

Tsunade sighed, before turning to look back at the monster killing off her friends. Her eyes betrayed a hopelessness that she refused to voice. A hopelessness she refused to let control her.

"I won't give up."

Shikamaru sighed, and muttered "Troublesome" just quiet enough for the hokage to not hear him.

"And neither are you." She reached down and pulled him up out of his sitting position. "Get up lazy ass."

This time he did say "Troublesome" loud enough for her to hear, to which she gave him a firm one-handed shove to get him moving.

"Gai, I'm not sure what we're gonna do, but keep your team ready." Gai gave a dramatic salute before rushing off to join Neiji, Lee, and Tenten.

"Shikamaru!" Said ninja looked up from his spot on the ground. She had given him too firm of a shove apparently. "Do what you do best and think of a way out of this mess!"

He nodded before laying his face back on to the ground to do just that. If she didn't know better, she would think he was sleeping.

"Chuunin!" Tsunade grew a tick on her forehead when he failed to answer, "CHUUNIN!"

She turned to see him with a terrified expression on his face as he pointed a shaky finger at the fox.

"H-hokage-sama, I t-think it's doing s-something." She turned towards the fox and muttered a curse under her breath as she saw it crouch down and begin gathering black chakra together at the tip of is snout. It looked like it was done playing.

She looked around at all the shinobis who were still battle ready. None of them looked capable of stopping the fox monster. 'Damn! Katsuyu won't be able to protect everyone again. Think Tsunade think. What the hell do we do?'

Just as she was thinking that, a giant sword pierced right through the Kyuubi's back, impaling it to the ground. The evil energy dispersed from its mouth when the fox gasped in pain, disappearing as soon as the fox lost concentration. The Kyuubi whined as it tried to move before the owner of the sword, who was almost a third the size of Kyuubi himself landed feet first on to its face. The sword wielder grinded his webbed feet on to the Kyuubi's face, digging it into the ground.

"Gamabunta!" Tsunade shouted out in exhilarated happiness. Right as she called out the large toad boss's name, two more giant toads landed on top of the Kyuubi's back, effectively pinning it to the ground. With Gamabunta standing on top of its head, Gamahiro sitting on top of its back while stabbing his set of swords into a position along-side Gamabunta's, and Gamaken using his fork-like weapon to pin several of the fox's tails to the ground, the Kyuubi was effectively trapped.

"Tsunade-hime, sorry we're late!" The giant toad boss called out to Tsunade.

"Our apologies, we had to clumsily pull Gamahiro from the bottom of a lake." Gamaken offered.

"Hey, I could've gotten out of there myself! I was just waiting for the right moment." The dual sword wielding toad defended.

Tsunade smiled before deciding to up the ante.

"Katsuyu, reform!"

"Yes my lady." The thousands of slugs spread across Konoha replied before quickly coming together directly in front of Tsunade, forming one giant slug roughly the same size as Gamabunta. She did however keep a few slugs on the ground to help stabilize the gravely injured.

Gamabunta glared down at the fox, his yellow eyes staring into the angry red ones of the fox demon. "I think it's time I paid you back for my eye."

Gamabunta pulled a spare knife, or at least what would be called a knife to him, out of his jacket. "So, which eye do ya want to lose first?"

The Kyuubi glared hatefully up at the toad from sixteen years ago, who was now sitting on its head. "**Infernal toad! When I'm through with you, you'll have a scar that makes all your fellow disgusting toads cringe when they look at you!**"

Gamabunta laughed humorously at the Kyuubi's threat. When his laughter died down, he turned to look down at the Kyuubi again, all humor gone from his face. "Your right, an eye is the least of the things I have to pay you back for. Sixteen years ago, I lost a good summoner because of you, and now I plan to avenge him!"

The toad raised the knife high up in the air before bringing it down with all his might towards the Kyuubi's eye. The fox's eyes widened in fear, and with quick reflexes, had all nine of its tails flip Gamaken's weapon off, and slam into all three toads knocking them off of its body. Then with a painful howl, the fox tore itself free from the swords that were still impaled through the back of its rib cage. However, the wound was already healing itself, as ribs snapped back into place, and flesh knitted over.

Katsuyu, with Tsunade on top of her, Gamabunta, Gamahiro, and Gamaken all lined up to do battle. The five, larger than they should be, beasts circled each other. However, the Kyuubi towered over all of them. Then as one, they attacked.

Gamahiro went swinging in first, spinning two new swords around like he was a giant top. The Kyuubi leapt over him, before being speared in the throat by Gamaken's fork-like weapon. With its throat broken, it had little chance to prepare for Gamabunta's downwards axe-motion attack as it cleaved three tails off in a single slice right off. The Kyuubi, unable to scream, but still ready to fight, painfully opened its mouth, and breathed a stream of fire right into Gamaken's face.

The clumsy toad brought up the shield on his forearm in the nick of time. Finally free from the fork weapon, the fox reared around, and brought its jagged fangs down on Gamabunta, who placed his sword in between himself and the vicious looking teeth. The Kyuubi drooled over the sword, as it bit down. Gamabunta gasped as his sword was easily cleaved in half. Before the Kyuubi could tear into Gamabunta, Katsuyu, who had been trying to get into position, sprayed acidic slime into the Kyuubi's eyes. The mighty fox roared in anger as it tossed Gamabunta off of itself and blindly charged at the slug.

Gamahiro, deciding to aid his fellow summon, came slamming into the Kyuubi with a spinning karate toad kick. The fox was knocked flat onto its side, before leaping out of the way of the toad bringing its dual swords down on the spot it vacated. The giant fox shot out two tails towards the toad that had accidently gotten his two swords stuck in the ground. However, Gamaken jumped in front of his younger brother, and positioned his shield in front of itself to protect the two of them. The two tails struck with such force that they shattered the shield into pieces. Gamaken's eyes widened as his prize buckler was destroyed. Despite its destruction, the shield still saved the two toad brothers from being skewered.

Gamahiro finally pulled his two swords from the road he was standing on, before turning to look at his older brother. Upon seeing the toad's angry expression, he nervously rubbed the back of his head and grinned back. Gamaken merely shook his head in annoyance.

"What the hell are you two brats doing? We still have a fox to flay here!" Gamabunta yelled out at them as he was once more flung off of the Kyuubi's back. He had been trying to stab his backup sword through its back to no avail. Katsuyu fired more acidic slime at the fox's tails in an attempt to stop their constant annoying swishing.

Gamahiro, with a battle cry, frog leaped towards the fox. As soon as he got within striking distance, five tails smashed him into a nearby pile of rubble. Gamaken, deciding to try range instead, readied his fork/trident into a throwing position. When he had a good shot, he threw it like a harpoon.

The Kyuubi had finally cornered the annoying slug, and was about to tear her apart when a fork speared the fox demon in the left side. The fox roared in anger at the giant fork sticking out its side like it was a gored animal. Using its tails, it pulled the fork out of its body. Before the Kyuubi could gain its bearings, the two sword wielding toads landed on the fox's back.

Before the fox could even react, Gamabunta stabbed it right through the skull while his son Gamahiro stabbed both blades through its lower back. The fox, like a puppet with its strings cut, fell to the ground, silent.

Gamabunta didn't move for all of a full minute. Neither did any of the other summons. Tsunade stood on top of Katsuyu with bated breath. After what seemed like an eternity, but was more like sixty seconds, Gamabunta let out a nervous chuckle. Eventually, it turned to laughter as he turned around on the demon's back and high fived his son. Gamaken let out a deep breath he'd been holding, collapsing on to his rear end, happy that it was over. Katsuyu looked up to Tsunade, awaiting further orders.

Despite the toad's jubilation, Tsunade stayed on the side of caution, not taking her eyes off the unmoving fox. Too many times in the past did they think it was down for good, only to later be unpleasantly surprised. Fox's were tricksters by nature after all. After waiting for an extra couple moments, and still no movement, she finally sighed in relief. She collapsed on top of the slug summon's head, 'Thank God. It's finally dead. It's finally over.'

Gamabunta, who had noticed her worry and jumpiness called out to her, "Relax Tsunade-hime, it's deader than hell, see." He spoke as he brought a webbed hand down and patted the fox's head like it was a trophy.

She looked back up and smiled at the antics of the toads, before she narrowed her eyes. 'I thought I saw…' Her face contorted into one of panic as she saw the fox open a single red eye. Before she could even yell out a warning all of the Kyuubi's tails shot upwards impaling Gamahiro through the torso, and smacking Gamabunta off of its back. The fox then used its tails to gently pull all of the blades from its head and back.

Gamabunta landed painfully in a heap. As soon as he landed he turned and saw his son Gamahiro still impaled on one of the Kyuubi's tails. The fox demon slammed him into Hokage Mountain, before impaling another three tails through his chest and shoulder area.

"Gamahiro!"

Gamabunta picked up his sword and charged, only to be swept aside by the other five tails, the three he had cut off having finally reformed. Not about to give up he leapt back to his feet, and yelled a war cry before charging again.

The fox turned towards its trapped toad prisoner who was coughing up green blood, with a look that sought vengeance. Before it could act on these impulses, Gamaken brought his forked weapon down on the tails trapping his brother, forcing them off of him. Gamaken turned to try and fight the Kyuubi off as Gamabunta checked on his son.

"I-I can still fight damn it," Gamahiro said while still coughing up green blood.

"Leave, you're no use to us in your condition," Gamabunta replied, though he still looked worried. Gamahiro looked like he wanted to argue, but upon seeing Gamabunta's face, which held no room for argument, finally consented. Nodding his head, he disappeared in a fog of smoke.

Gamabunta turned back to the fight at hand. Bringing his sword into reverse grip, he charged back in.

Tsunade examined the situation with a grim expression. Katsuyu, who was still tired from constantly trying to protect Konoha's citizens from danger, looked ready to disperse from exhaustion at just about any moment. Gamabunta seemed fired up over the injury done to his son, but he still looked like he was going on adrenaline only. Gamabunta's only son left on the battlefield appeared the worst of the three. He was sporting several deep injuries, and his weapon looked like it was about to snap in half like a twig.

Coming to the last of its resistance, Gamaken's fork broke upon impact with the clawed foot of the Kyuubi. The fox demon grinned evilly at this new development, and pressed its advantage. Snapping its teeth forward, it grabbed the toad up by the arm, between its upper and lower jaw. Shaking him like a rag doll, the toad yelled in pain as he tried to pry his hand free.

Gamabunta leapt forward and smashed his sword with all his strength into the fox's face. Instead of piercing flesh, it broke on contact, the blade finally going dull from overuse. Luckily, it still succeeded in freeing the unfortunate toad from the Kyuubi's mouth. Gamabunta dragged his son away from the fox, who was forced to dodge an acidic spray from Katsuyu.

"My apologies, for being so clumsy Father," The injured toad said.

"Don't worry about it, just get out of here, okay." The boss toad said. Gamaken nodded before dispersing in smoke.

Gamabunta sighed. Things were looking bad. No, things were looking terrible. If they lost, then Konoha had nothing left to give. It would be over. 'Gamaken, Gamahiro, I can't let Jiraiya, Minato, and Naruto's village be destroyed like this.' Gamabunta turned to look back at the Kyuubi with a regretful expression on his face. 'I don't think I'll be going back to our realm with you. Even if I have to die trying I'll stop him from destroying this village. It's the least I can do for Naruto for being so useless to him in his battle against Pain.'

Katsuyu scurried over to sit beside Gamabunta who looked lost in thought. The fox was standing a short distance away, observing them.

"What's wrong Gamabunta?" Katsuyu asked.

Gamabubta turned an eye towards the duo, and sighed, "Just thinking of how similar this is to sixteen years ago. What with the hopelessness situation and all."

Katsuyu turned a quizzical eye towards the toad, "I wouldn't know. I wasn't there."

Gamabunta laughed, "Trust me, you didn't miss anything you wouldn't already want to."

Tsunade, even though she wasn't an expert on reading giant summon's expressions, had known Gamabunta long enough to understand what was going through his head. He was worried.

"Shall we give it one last hurrah?" The fifth hokage asked the two summon bosses.

"Hai, lady Tsunade," her faithful companion Katsuyu replied.

"Going down in a blaze of glory, eh. That actually sounds like a neat idea." The old toad responded with a smile.

"Then let's do this." They all let out a battle cry and charged the fox demon one last time.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Naruto stared at the destruction in the distance with a trapped expression. The smoke and fire that rose up in the background gave him a terrible idea of what was going on. He tried to crawl towards his home but he could barely move his body. Tears of frustration flew from his eyes at how worthless he was.

'It's my fault.'

He tried to pull himself towards the fire in the background.

'It's all my fault.'

He couldn't stop. He had to save them. He trained with the toads just to save Konoha from the Akatsuki. It's all for nothing if they all die because of something he unleashed. He dropped his head onto his arm, as his shoulders shook. 'I can't let them die because I stupidly freed the Kyuubi.'

He banged his head repeatedly on his arm as he got his sleeve wet. "Idiot, idiot, idiot. 'I promise to protect Konoha.' What the hell was I thinking believing him?"

'They are all going to die because I'm such an idiot.' He felt himself giving up. He couldn't give up. Could he? Would they hate him if he gave up? Would they blame him for the horrors he visited upon them? He slowly closed his eyes. 'Could I forgive myself?'

Just as he almost completely closed his eyes, he felt a 'pat' on his shoulder. He looked up and blinked in surprise.

"F-Fukasaku-sensei?" Naruto asked in surprise as he saw the old little toad with a comforting webbed hand on his arm. The old toad nodded smiling.

"You're alive!" Naruto said happily, as he reached a hand over and patted the toad on the head like he was a pet. The old toad growled in annoyance before whacking him on the head with his cane, harder than necessary.

"Yes, I'm alive. But many people in Konoha are not. What happened?" Naruto looked down again, once more growing despondent. Fukasku, immediately got a good idea of what happened when he saw Naruto's expression. He once again placed a comforting hand on the blonde ninja's arm.

"I understand. The fox can be horribly manipulative. Try not to beat yourself up too much."

Naruto shook his head, "No, I was stupid. He's considered evil for a reason. I…I was just so desperate for help that I….." Naruto ducked his head back down at this, unable to complete his sentence.

They both looked up when they heard a massive explosion. Naruto's eyes hardened. After venting to Fukasaku, he realized that only action would make up for his mistake. He looked to the toad who taught him sage mode.

"Fukasaku-sensei, use Jiraiya's contingency seal."

Fukasaku's eyes widened, surprised that Naruto even knew what that was. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Naruto's expression grew angry, "Don't play games Fukasaku-sensei! I've been training under Jiraiya for the past three years. I know that all villages that have jinchuurikis must have contingency seals in case the jinchuuriki goes rogue or berserk. I know Jiraiya had to have one in place. He may have been my sensei, but he was still loyal to Konoha. They wouldn't have let me out of Konoha without it."

Fukasaku's expression was one of sheer worry. "But Naruto-chan, if you use it-"

"I know, now set it up."

Fukasaku hesitated, unwilling to do what he was about to do to the child of prophecy. They both looked up when they saw an enormous blue sphere in the sky above Eastern Konoha.

"HURRY!"

Fukasaku still didn't move. His expression was one of a trapped person who had to choose between two horrible alternatives. His eyes danced between Konoha and Naruto.

"Please" Naruto's face was one of desperation.

Seeing his expression, Fukasaku slowly nodded his head in an act of surrender. His face set in grim determination, the toad started the contingency seal activation process.

"Take off your jacket."

Naruto painfully tore the jacket off with a kunai. Every movement gave him a feeling of pure suffering. Fukasaku brought his hands into a seal, summoning several ink brushes and sealing parchments while Naruto removed his jacket.

Once Naruto's jacket was off, Fukasaku began drawing advanced seal kanji on several different parchments with the speed of a pro. In the distance, several towering figures were dancing with each other.

After finishing the last seal, Fukasaku brought his hands together, but hesitated to place them on the seal decorations he had drawn. There were replica drawings of Naruto's dead demon seal, only with chain like kanji in random locations on all the pieces of parchment. Fukasaku stared at the parchment long and hard. The dancing figures in the distance had been reduced to just three. Sweat dripped from the old toad's white brow.

"I….I…..I can't!" He rasped out, dropping his webbed hands to his side. So many centuries had he waited for the prophesized child to reveal himself. There was absolutely no doubt in the old toad's mind that Naruto was the Child of Prophecy, the one who would end all the bloodshed, and save the world. And now he was about to do this to him. For what? A single ninja village. 'I'm sorry Naruto, but I can't.'

"What do you mean you can't? We don't have a choice!" Naruto looked over at his beloved village. Ruins after what Pain did to it. And now a nightmarish hell thanks to the Kyuubi. But it was still his village, his home; his beloved, ruined, nightmarish hell of a home. 'Was this what the Fourth Hokage felt sixteen years ago?'

Taking a quick look at the hand seal Fukasaku still had his hands together in, he quickly gathered chakra into his hands. Wasting no time he brought his hands into an exact mirror of Fukasaku's.

Fukasaku gasped when he realized what Naruto was doing.

"Naruto-chan, don't!" The old toad yelled out to late. Naruto slammed his hands into the nearest piece of parchment, his chakra spreading out across the chain like kanji. The chains glowed and came alive. Rising off the parchment and slamming into where his seal used to be.

Naruto gasped as he felt the chains crawl into his stomach like slithering snakes. It felt like they were digging for something.

"Naruto-chan!" Fukasaku said before he was batted away by one of the swinging chains.

The chains, finally finding the trace residue of the Kyuubi's chakra, began searching for nearby similar chakra. Finding it several miles away, thousands of chains shot from Naruto's newly fixed seal, straight for Konoha.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Tsunade was flung from Katsuyu, as the slug summon finally dispersed in a cloud of smoke after being hit by a miniature chakra blast. Gamabunta, true to his word, stayed in this realm, even though he had such grievous wounds. He had been slammed into the Hokage Mountain, and was far too weak to move from there. The toad boss glared at the fox as it towered over Tsunade's beaten and battered form.

Tsunade slowly lifted her head to glare one last look of defiance into those evil red eyes.

"**Don't despair, you fought well**." The Kyuubi smiled as it licked its lips.

"**I have to admit, you all surprised me. Madara was right to go to such lengths to destroy you all**."

Tsunade wasn't even listening to the fox anymore. Blood had dribbled into her ears from a large cut on her head. She could barely see, as it is. About the only thing she could do was glare defiantly at the giant red blob in her contorted vision.

"**You're a shining example for all of Konoha's citizens. Now, I'll bet you'll make an even greater example of what they will all look like when I'm finished making you my chew toy**." The fox grinned. It opened its mouth, displaying row upon razor sharp row of teeth that even to her messed up vision looked painful to the touch. Her eyes widened when she saw a snake like shape strike the red blob.

The fox yelped painfully when a razor wired chain wrapped around its throat. The Kyuubi immediately started clawing at the chain cutting into its throat, as it gasped for breath. As it was struggling to release itself, more chains slammed themselves into the fox. The fox demon growled in anger as a chain wrapped around its tail, and then one on its left hind leg. It tried to pull the limb free but was startled when three chains wrapped around its midriff. The Kyuubi tried to escape, but at this point, it was impossible.

Ten chains grappled themselves around the fox's right hind leg, and seven more reinforced the left. Thirty chains stuck to its back like they were welded on, but the fox refused to give up. Shooting a small chakra blast at the base of the chains, it succeeded in blasting several off. Its relief was short lived however as twelve chains immediately wrapped around its mouth in retaliation. The chains pulled the fox off of its feet, and started dragging it out of Konoha.

Getting desperate, the Kyuubi used the small amount of free tails available to start conjuring a tornado. Unfortunately for the Kyuubi, before it could create one, a hundred chains wrapped around its tails, forcing them into a helpless bunch. The only limbs that were still free were its two front paws which were clawing at the earth in a last ditch attempt to escape.

The old demon fox's eyes widened as it began to recognize these chains. '**No,** **it can't be**.'

"**DAMN YOU UZUMAKI! DAMN YOU! I SWEAR I'LL TEAR YOU APART FOR THIS! YOU'LL BEG ME FOR MERCIFUL DEATH WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU**!" The fox screamed through the chains, as its right front paw was torn into by the spiked chains.

'**Why?**'

The Kyuubi started hyperventilating as its left eye was covered by the spiked chains.

'**Why is it always Uzumaki?**'

The fox placed its last claw into the ground as it roared to the sky, "**CURSE YOU DAMN UZUMAKI'S. CURSE YOUR WHOLE FAMILY**."

'**Minato, Kushina, Naruto**,' The fox's one visible eye narrowed, '**Madara**.'

'**I'll get you all back for this. I swear it. Somehow, I'll make you all regret this**. '

Eventually, the Kyuubi spotted Naruto, lying prone upon the ground while watching with surprise as the fox was being dragged towards him. The fox demon growled when it saw the blonde ninja, trying to convey its hatred. Naruto was now the fourth person on its shit list.

"**This won't stop me! I'll be back! If it takes me a hundred years or a thousand, I'll be back! I'll destroy all trace of Konoha! I'll find you in the afterlife and devour you! Mark my words Naruto**!" The fox gave one final slash towards Naruto with its one free claw. As soon as the claw got close to the blonde jinchuuriki, it was sucked into Naruto's new seal. The Kyuubi's entire body began to be forced through the small space, breaking bones and tearing flesh. The Kyuubi's final free thoughts drifted to the one who put it into this mess.

"**ARE YOU WATCHING MADARA! DON'T THINK I'LL FORGET WHAT YOU DID! CLING TO LIFE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE, IT WON'T SAVE YOU FROM ME**!" These were the Kyuubi's last words before it was brutally forced into the new seal.

Naruto panted in exhaustion as he stared at the new seal on his stomach. He looked to his right to see Fukasaku come limping towards him, nursing a broken arm. They both turned their eyes back to the new seal.

"It won't last long." The old toad whispered.

"I know. It was only supposed to force the Kyuubi back into my body," Naruto looked away from the seal with a sad expression, "so we can die together."

Fukasaku closed his eyes at this and turned away, unable to look at the young teen. 'He wasn't supposed to die. Where did we go wrong?'

He opened his eyes, the yellow orbs showing his sadness at losing not only the Child of Prophecy, but the last Toad Summoner as well. 'I suppose the toads will disappear from this world, along with our summoner.'

The blonde genin started to feel the effects of new seal as it began to leak a fast acting poison through his veins. This poison was going to slowly shut down all eight of the chakra gates in his body, finishing with the eighth gate, which was right next to the new seal. Instead of causing a massive influx of chakra to enter his body, like when Lee opens the gates, this would force all of his chakra to attach itself to the seal like a sponge, and then grapple itself onto the bijuu within. When the eighth gate shut down, both prisoner and jailor would die.

Naruto struggled for breath as all the chakra started exiting his body, leaving him with hardly enough energy to even gasp for air. Eventually, even that proved too difficult for the dying ninja.

Fukasaku looked towards his webbed hand, and noticed it was fading into wisps of white smoke. His time in this world was growing short as Naruto's life left him.

"Naruto, what you did was very brave. I know that Jiraiya-chan would be very proud of you. Maybe he'll even be able to tell you that himself. I hope that wherever it is that you go, gives you eternal peace."

Fukasaku's eyes softened as he looked at the young shinobi, barely in his mid teens. The boy didn't even have the power to speak anymore. 'Why must they all die so young?'

"You've surpassed both of your predecessors, Naruto. Know that it was an honor training you." The wise old sage said before completely disappearing into wisps of white smoke. A distance away in Konoha, Gamabunta also disappeared as well.

Naruto stared up at the sun as his vision darkened. 'I wonder if they'll mourn me. Me, the one who unleashed the Kyuubi on them.'

He coughed up blood as his heart struggled to properly pump blood through his body. 'Where is everyone?'

His mind fogged as his eyes darted left and right looking for anyone of his friends. Hoping they might have sent someone out to see if he was okay. When his hazy vision failed to find anyone, he began to despair. 'Am I going to die alone?'

The sun failed to register to his eyes as everything darkened. 'Is it night already?'

Tears leaked from his unmoving face. 'Sakura-chan? Kakashi-sensei? Baa-chan? Where are you guys?'

Naruto turned his head to the side to see the ruins of Konoha. Even with his darkened vision, his home still shined like a beacon of light. 'Did they leave me out here to die?'

His tear-streaked eyes hardened as he stared at his home. 'Do they even care that I sacrificed myself to save them?'

He weakly lifted an arm, raising it towards his home. 'Will they…will they mourn me?' his weakening mind repeated.

His arm shook from the strain, eventually falling to the ground. 'Old man I...I…..'

Naruto's mind drifted to the past. In his weakened state he couldn't even comprehend what was memory and what was real. Even as everything faded from view, Konoha stayed bright. Eventually even becoming what it was before Pain destroyed it. A vibrant village filled with laughter and smiles as people went about their business. Amongst them was one small boy. Naruto's cloudy vision locked onto the small child, as Konoha faded from sight.

And the last emotion Naruto felt before life left his body was…..

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Madara leisurely walked down the hallway in his underground base. He was currently waiting to receive confirmation from Pain on his success in capturing the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. He whistled a tune as he planned the next step in his plan to become one with the world. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that Pain would succeed in his mission.

He came to an abrupt stop as he felt a chill go down his spine. 'What is this feeling?'

His eye widened as recognition dawned on him. October Tenth, a day he would never forget. Not just because of the loss of the Kyuubi, but also because of his nightmarish encounter with the specter. The specter who had promised to come for him one day.

Sweat began to drip off his forehead as he felt a presence he hadn't felt for sixteen years. The Uchiha tried to calm his racing heart as he attempted to get a general sense of where the feeling of dread originated from.

"_Now we're seven_."

The Uchiha quickly turned around as he heard the voice whisper directly into his ear. His eyes widened once more as the oppressive feeling immediately disappeared. Almost like it wasn't even there.

Madara brought a hand up to calm his racing heart. 'Was I hallucinating?'

Madara's one visible eye narrowed. 'No, that was no hallucination. That was really him, but why now?'

He scrunched his brow in confusion as he pondered the voice's words, 'Now we're seven. What the hell does that mean?'

He decided to think on this later as he went to go check and see if Pain and Konan had returned yet.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

AN: Hello everyone, this finally marks the end of the prologue. Now I can finally get to the actual story. For those of you who are wondering about Naruto's death, don't worry. He's listed as the main character for a reason.


	4. To Take The Advantage

AN: Thank you to everyone who read and enjoyed this story. And a huge thanks to those who reviewed, it really means a lot. Also, a extra special thank you to Dark Vizard447 for being the first to review.

Chapter 4: To Take the Advantage

'**It's always so dark in this place**.'

The Kyuubi slowly opened one of its deformed eyes. The demon looked around at the night-like limbo it was familiar with, recognizing the dark emptiness as the place between the Human Realm and the After Life. Whenever one of the Bijuu 'died,' this was the place they came to. And here they would stay until their bodies reformed, and they could once again return to the world of the living. The amount of time it would take varied from bijuu to bijuu, as their powers were all different. Could be a week; could be a century.

'**I hate this place.'**

The Kyuubi always felt so vulnerable in this empty realm. Considering it only came here after suffering fatal injuries, and is always in a defenseless state in this universe, the demon's fear is always at its zenith when it's brought here. The Kyuubi brought its one eye to look at the mutilated mass that was its front right claw. The fox demon narrowed its torn eye in aggravation. The fox, with growing trepidation, painfully turned its head to examine the rest of its body. The battered fox growled when it saw that everything from its waist down was a mass of destroyed flesh, with red wisps of chakra dancing around the destroyed area. The red chakra was slowly healing the fox's body. Eventually, there wouldn't even be scratch.

"**Do you think you've stopped me Naruto? Just you watch; I won't even need a month. And when I'm fully healed, I'll return to your village, and color the once green village, red. It'll be like a painting, a bloody painting. It will be a beacon for you to see from the After Life; my name written in blood, your friends' blood**."

"**Uzumaki, when I get a hold of you, you'll….**" The fox's thoughts of revenge halted when it thought it saw something move in the dark backdrop of this hellish limbo. The Kyuubi's single open eye widened when it realized a bright white light was shinning in the distance. '**Impossible! Nothing should inhabit this plane of existence except me**.'

The Kyuubi wracked its brain to try and think of any of the other eight bijuu that could be reforming their bodies. '**No, at this point in time I'm the only one here. And none of the other bijuu can make their bodies flash with white light. But if it's not any of them, then what's making that light**?'

The nine tailed fox stared transfixed as the white light, which seemed so far away as to appear unreachable, yet close enough to blind him, began shimmering.

"_Become one_"

The Kyuubi's lone eye widened in fear as the light grew in size; eventually dwarfing the fox demon's destroyed body. The white light began to cast away the darkness, and what was once a dark empty place became a white wasteland of nothingness. The Kyuubi could only stare in terrified awe as its dark sanctuary became engulfed in a brilliant white energy.

"**W-who…a-are…**"

"_Become one_"

Thousands of white chains, reminiscent of the one's used to recapture the fox, flew from the origin of the light. The fox demon gasped in shock when it saw the horde of chains descend upon its weak and defenseless form. The fox howled in agony as the chains literally melded to its skin, causing steam to rise into the air. The fox tried to use what energy it could to pull away from the source of the white light, but the horrific pain created by the white chains was too much.

'**No! Not again**!' The fox struggled and squirmed as it was reeled towards the white light, and towards whatever fate awaited it. Eventually the struggling died down when the fox demon realized it was hopeless; nothing could save it now.

'**Why always me**?' The fox's eyes grayed as it gave into hopeless depression. The fox's thoughts drifted to its black haired ex-partner who had promised eternal glory. 'With your strength and my eyes, nothing can stop us. Help me destroy Konoha, and the world will be yours.' Even now, so many years later, the Kyuubi cursed itself for not seeing the deceitful look in that Uchiha's sharingan.

The Kyuubi's thoughts came to a stop at the valley of the end, the place where the duo had been defeated by the Shodaime. The place where the Kyuubi's suffering began, all because of one foolish Uchiha.

'**Madara**'

The Kyuubi let its mind wander to that night sixteen years ago, where a red headed woman had stopped his mindless rampage. The fox remembered the feeling of chains, so similar to now, engulfing his form. But most of all, the fox remembered those hateful green eyes, the usual glimmer gone from the dying woman's eyes as she stood on shaky legs.

'**Kushina**'

The fox remembered seeing a cloak covered in flames; a man with blonde unkempt hair. His eyes were bright with unshed tears as he prepared to do the unspeakable to his son to save their village. The Kyuubi remembered the feeling of frozen dread as a cold hand tore into its chest, and ripped its soul from its body. Its last free sight for sixteen years, being the secretly married couple's last stare of love and regret, not at the fox, but at its new jailor.

'**Minato**'

The Kyuubi felt itself begin to be lifted into the air as a giant hand of white light grasped it. The fox's eyes grew lifeless as its soul was slowly sucked from its body.

As the fox's soul was absorbed, its thoughts unwillingly drifted to an individual that it secretly respected. Blonde, spiky hair; unnaturally blue eyes, a spinning image of his father, except for the whisker-like scars on his cheeks. Staring defiantly back at the villagers that scorned him, promising to show them all one day. Standing up to the man covered in piercings, the last line of defense against an organization that sought to destroy his village. Staring up into the fox's own red eyes from his defeated position on the ground, not an ounce of fear in his blue eyes.

The Kyuubi's eyes dulled, '**Naruto**'

The fox demon felt its chakra slowly leak into the white light as red chakra fled from its body into the white void. Even keeping its lone eye open seemed like a difficult task. The fox felt tired, so tired. The Kyuubi closed its eye. '**I guess…..I guess it's over**'

Images flashed before the fox demon's eyes: A blonde child yelling his insane dream at anyone who would listen; a young genin, considered the underdog in every battle, always defying the odds; an irritating jailor, constantly getting knocked down, only to always stand up again. Never giving up.

The fox demon weakly opened a single eye, nearly all of its chakra was gone now.

'I never give up! That's my nindo, my ninja way!'

'**Never give up, huh**?' The Kyuubi let out a chuckle as it felt some of its resolve return. The fox slowly lifted its head to stare at the white light. The white light shimmered in an odd manner when the Kyuubi did this; seemingly surprised it could still move. Straining against the chains, the fox opened its mouth, and fired a massive red chakra blast right at the origin of the chains. The explosion tore through several hundred chains, causing them to fall from the Kyuubi's form. But it was still trapped by the iron grip of the giant white hand. Not giving up, the Kyuubi reared its head back, and fired one more chakra blast point blank into the hand. The Kyuubi growled when it still didn't budge. Bringing its full array of teeth into play, the fox bit as hard as it could onto the nearest 'finger.'

"_Futile_"

The Kyuubi growled with an animalistic rage when the hand didn't so much as flinch from its bite. The fox's eyes widened when it saw a second hand come into creation, white particles grasping onto the second hand to make it whole. The Kyuubi began to get desperate as it fired red blast after red blast at the rapidly forming hand. However, the fox's mouth began to get sore; eventually the red chakra even stopped forming altogether. The fox panted in exhaustion, tongue hanging out of the side of its mouth.

The Kyuubi yelped in pain as more chains latched around its throat, choking it. Then the second, fully formed hand reinforced the first as the chakra drain continued undeterred. The fox struggled with all of its might against the restraints. When its lower body dissipated in wisps of red chakra that was quickly suctioned into the white void before it, the fox knew this was it.

With the last of its strength, it roared a mighty howl at the white void with everything it had. All of its hatred for the thing in front of it, all of its hatred for the four humans who dared defy it, all of its respect for the single human who would not give up, all of it was released in that one roar. The roar shook the entire dimension, as the chains shook from the force. The fox howled in defiance with everything it had for several long minutes before finally stopping. Everything except the fox's head had been absorbed.

"**I will not die! Enjoy my power while you can whatever the hell you are, for I will return! Mark my words, I WILL RETURN**!"

The fox howled one last time as its head disappeared into wisps of red smoke that was sucked into the bright white light.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE TOOK THE KYUUBI WITH HIM!"

Madara huffed in an attempt to catch his breath after yelling so loud. He had been a bit surprised when he had seen Pain and Konan return from their mission looking less for wear, and with no bound and captured jinchuuriki. He was even more surprised when they told him that Naruto Uzumaki released the Kyuubi. The old Uchiha got a good chuckle when he heard that Konoha got pulverized by the fox demon. However, when he heard that the nine tails jinchuuriki sacrificed himself to kill the Kyuubi well…..

"THIS IS BULLSHIT! THE JINCHUURIKI SHOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO USE THE CONTINGENCY SEAL!"

Pain stared calmly at the hyper-ventilating form of his leader as he started pacing back and forth. He always knew Madara was a few screws short of utter insanity, and simply hid it behind a cheery facade. The whole 'Tobi' persona just proved it. But at least he was finally showing his true colors.

In the corner of the candle lit room, Konan was resting against a wall with her arms crossed over her chest. She had her eyes closed as she rested from the long mission. It had been rather easy to retrieve God-Realm Pain, and while doing so she had discovered what had happened to Konoha and the Kyuubi. She was completely undeterred by Madara's outbursts. As long as he didn't do anything violent towards Nagato, she didn't care.

Madara stopped pacing as he took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. Freaking out won't do any good, he had to think. Madara brought a gloved hand to his mask as he contemplated the situation. The Kyuubi was unattainable at the moment which threw a giant monkey wrench into their plans.

'However….' Madara smirked as he remembered something the Kyuubi had once told him.

"We don't need to worry; we'll still get the Kyuubi." Madara announced to the two Akatsuki members, surprising them.

Pain raised an eyebrow in question. He went from throwing a childish tantrum, to telling them that they don't need to worry. "Would you kindly elaborate?"

Madara turned his single sharingan in the direction of the man covered in piercings, "The bijuu are immortal; they cannot be killed or permanently cast from this plane of existence. We all know this. However, what happens when their bodies are completely destroyed?"

Pain shrugged, while Konan remained silent.

"I suppose they simply find a safe location to regenerate." Pain replied.

"Close, they actually leave the world of the living and go to a dimension that only bijuu can inhabit. There they reform their bodies, and then return to our dimension to wreak havoc anew." Madara explained.

Konan looked at Madara with skepticism, "And the Kyuubi is there right now?"

Madara nodded his head, "He sure as hell isn't here."

"How long does it take for the bijuu to reform?" Pain asked with determination in his eyes. The Kyuubi had beaten him before, and he wanted it caught. He didn't care if he needed Madara's help to do it anymore. Just so long as that beast was lying in chains before their statue, Pain didn't care one bit.

Madara shrugged before answering, "Could be a couple days, could be a couple centuries."

Pain narrowed his eyes in annoyance, "We don't have a couple centuries. The elemental nations are catching onto our movements more and more every day. Very soon we'll be the most wanted organization in the world with ninja from every single country hunting us down. Even we can't fight them all off without the weapon from the statue."

Madara waved a hand in dismissal, "Don't worry. The Kyuubi is the strongest of the nine. I'll bet he'll be back in this realm within a couple months. And I have no doubt that as soon as it comes back it's going to immediately go on a rampage as it heads towards Konoha, causing mayhem and destruction as it travels. The crafty fox won't be too hard to track down when this happens. We'll just have to kick back and relax until then."

Konan made to speak, but Madara turned his lone sharingan eye towards her. Even with a mask on it was clear he was glaring.

"I said, we'll-just-have-to-kick-back-and-relax-until-then." The masked Uchiha said menacingly, slowly pronouncing each word like he was spelling it out to her.

Pain glared at the Uchiha for his treatment of his blue-haired companion. Pain balled his hands into fists and made ready to make the masked man sorry for his words when Sasuke and his team came in. Right behind them was Kisame and Zetsu. Pain slowly unclenched his fists when they piled into the room.

Sasuke looked at Pain, taking in his bruised and battered form, not to mention the giant hole in the side of his ribcage that the pierced man seemed completely unaffected by.

"What the Fuck happened to you?" Suigetsu, Sasuke's boisterous teammate, asked.

Pain looked at the loud teammate of Sasuke with annoyance at his disrespect. He had done what he could to get God-Realm Pain moving again, but had been ill-equipped to fix his injuries on their travel back. "An unexpected development occurred in Konoha. This is the result."

Suigetsu grinned as he put his hands behind his head, "You mean ya got your ass kicked."

Pain glared, and Konan 'accidently' sliced a stone chair in half with an origami sword. Kisame laughed at Suigetsu's cockiness and Konan's look of hatred. Zetsu grinned in amusement as well. Juugo and Karin stiffened under the killing intent leaked by their senior Akatsuki comrades. Madara merely looked on with amusement, but of course they couldn't tell.

Sasuke ignored everyone else in the room as he looked towards Madara, "What about the Kyuubi?"

The young Uchiha knew that Pain had likely already told Madara everything that happened. And frankly, he preferred to deal with a fellow Uchiha than an unbelievably strong rinnegan user and his homicidal female partner.

Madara's eye lost its amusing shimmer as he looked towards his protégé. "The Kyuubi was somehow released from its seal and promptly went on a rampage. It attacked Konoha, and its jinchuuriki sacrificed himself to kill it." Everyone stiffened upon hearing that except Pain and Konan.

However Sasuke's reaction had Madara narrowing his eye. Sasuke went stock still, his body going pale. "H-he's dead?"

Madara slowly nodded his head, and Sasuke looked towards his feet as he clenched his fist hard enough for it to turn pink. He knew that this was what was going to happen, but hearing it and experiencing it? His only true friend in this world sacrificed himself to save the village he despised. Even after all this time, Sasuke still considered Naruto his friend. But friend or no, he was completely ready to kill him for his vengeance without hesitation. 'I guess I don't have to worry about that now though, huh, Naruto.'

Sasuke let a small sad smile grace his face. 'You finally did it didn't you, Dobe. You stupidly gave up your life for the village. I always knew you'd do something crazy like that, but still…..'

Sasuke closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. When he opened them, his expression was the one the Uchiha's were famous for. He looked towards Pain with a neutral expression. "Is there anything left of Konoha to destroy?"

Pain crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged, "Depends on what you consider Konoha to be. The village is nothing but ruins, but there's still plenty of ninjas left for them to be considered a threat."

Sasuke smirked, "As long as Danzo, Homura, and Koharu are alive then so is Konoha in my mind. I won't consider Konoha defeated until those three are nothing but a memory. And I'll kill anyone that stands in my way." Suigetsu, Juugo, and Karin nodded their heads in agreement.

"Good to hear." Madara said as he patted the younger Uchiha's shoulder. The masked man looked towards the rest of the assembled Akatsuki members.

"As I told Pain and Konan earlier, the Kyuubi will be back. We simply have to sit tight until it reforms and shows itself again. Until that time, we lay low. Any questions?" When no one said anything, he turned to leave.

"Good. Dismissed."

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

6 months later

Sakura stared sadly at the small grave outside of Konoha. They were just outside the newly built wall surrounding the village. After six months, the village had finally begun to get back on its feet, thanks to a healthy donation from the daimyo of fire. They had even brought in construction workers from Wave. Seeing Inari and Tazuna again had been a bittersweet moment. Sakura let a small sad smile grace her lips as she thought of what Naruto would have said about how tall Inari's gotten.

The pink haired ninja kneeled down and brought an ungloved hand up to the name listed on the stone grave tablet.

_Here lies Naruto Uzumaki_

_A True Hero To The End_

_Loving Friend And Loyal Ninja_

_Never Gave Up On Anything Or Anyone_

_Died Defending His Beloved Home_

All of Naruto's friends had worked hard to build this humble grave for him. They had said a few words, and many tears were shed. Even after revealing his status as the jailor of the Kyuubi, all of his friends remained loyal. It was a funeral he would have thought he never would have had considering his upbringing. However, they knew it wasn't enough.

"You shouldn't be buried here Naruto. You should be buried in Konoha. You're name should be…." Sakura stopped herself as the tears came to her eyes. Just thinking about it was painful

"You're name should be on the Hero's Memorial."

She felt a small breeze blow her hair around. She looked towards the sky as she remembered what Tsunade told her had happened when they refused to put Naruto's name on the memorial.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Flashback: one day after the Kyuubi attack

"….And we'll also need to set up special zones and tents to train the future generation of ninjas. Does anyone have anything they would like to add?" Tsunade asked. The surviving members of the council and herself had set themselves up in the largest tent they had available in order to begin going over plans to rebuild Konoha. They had decided to convene a meeting the day after the attack, because they were still pulling people out of the rubble. Usually, they would convene immediately after an attack, but they wanted to have as accurate of an idea of the damage done before they started making decisions.

When no one spoke up, she decided to move onto the next order of business. She nodded towards Shizune, who was standing at her side. Shizune pulled out a stack of papers from an envelope and started passing them around to the gathered council members. As she passed them around, Shizune couldn't help but notice the pale and ghostly expressions some of the civilian members were wearing. A lot of them had lost family in the attack. Most reacted to her with a polite nod, but some didn't even seem to realize she had placed something in front of them. They were too busy staring off into space with a blank look. After she finished passing around the documents she left the tent to wait until her mentor called her back in.

"In these documents is a list of known casualties suffered during the Akatsuki assault, and the Kyuubi attack afterwards; both ninja and civilian." Tsunade's eyes down casted as she thought of everyone who died in the attack. Her thoughts drifted to a certain fellow blonde ninja whom she thought of as being akin to a little brother. She had cried onto Shizune's shoulder when she found out he had died. Cursing herself for not sending a team out to rescue him. Cursing herself for being powerless against Pain and the Kyuubi. Cursing herself for giving Naruto that damned necklace.

'Nawaki, Dan, Sarutobi-sensei, Jiraiya, and now Naruto.' Tsunade let her bangs cover her eyes so the assembled council couldn't see the depressed look on her face. 'They say ninjas aren't supposed to cry or show emotion. I'm a Sanin and I've probably shed enough tears for the entire village. If our ninjas can't cry, I'll cry for them.'

When she decided to speak, her voice was a false calm that only the best of shinobi could see through. "Are there any questions concerning the casualties?"

Unfortunately for her, the shinobi in the tent were seasoned veterans, who could easily see that she was anything but calm. They all heard the slight tremor in her voice. And they all shared her pain; all except one.

To say Danzo was angry was an understatement. He had severely miscalculated the outcome of the Akatsuki attack. He had expected some loss when he found out that Akatsuki had sent its best to take Naruto. He had been hoping that Pain would kill Tsunade, or at the very least, severely weaken her. In her weakened state, he would have silently assassinated her and seized control.

Instead, Pain completely destroyed the village, leaving not a single building standing. Then Naruto releases the Kyuubi who in turn attacks them in their defenseless state, causing a disaster that dwarfed the nightmare sixteen years ago on October Tenth. They may have lost the Yondaime during that incident, along with many shinobi, but the village wasn't left completely destroyed. Konoha probably didn't even deserve to be considered one of the five major powers anymore with the damage they sustained. Tsunade may have survived, but that was the only good thing they could say about what happened yesterday. They even lost their jinchuuriki, Konoha's ultimate trump card.

Danzo clenched his fists beneath the table they were sitting at. 'How could this happen? I may be in position to take control if I really wanted to, but if I attempted a coup d'etat, the ensuing battle would only leave us in an even worse condition. The Raikage, Tsuchikage, or even Orochimaru might try and attack us then.'

Danzo turned his head to look at the Hokage, who was putting up a fake calm expression to hide her sorrow. 'It'll be impossible to silently assassinate her right now. Plus, we need our last Sannin to rally the people's spirits. I suppose you get to remain the hokage for a little longer Tsunade.'

"If no one has anything to add, I suppose we can lay that article to rest. All civilians who died in the incident will receive proper burial, and all shinobi who died will have their names placed on the Hero's Memorial. Moving on, we need to tighten our border patro-"

"I have something to add." Danzo interrupted. All eyes turned to the old war hawk as he stood up and balanced himself on his cane.

Tsunade sighed as she waved her hand in a 'go ahead' gesture.

"I propose that Naruto Uzumaki be stricken from the roster of those whose names will be added to the Hero's Memorial." Danzo said with a neutral tone, despite the gasps and startled looks from those gathered.

Tsunade was completely taken aback by this, and had to take a second to gather herself. "Excuse me?"

Danzo turned his lone eye towards the Hokage, "Uzumaki-san was the reason that the Akatsuki attacked in the first place. The village was destroyed, because he was not here to fight them." Danzo's lone eye narrowed as he stared at the increasingly upset Hokage. "Not only that, but he released the Kyuubi, causing this entire catastrophe. This disaster has left us far weaker than the one from sixteen years ago; all because of one foolish ninja."

"How dare you," Tsunade seethed, "Naruto wasn't here because he was training to stop the Akatsuki-"

"That turned out well." Danzo interrupted.

Tsunade glared as she grit her teeth, "How can you stand there and condemn the person who saved us from the Kyuubi. He sacrificed himself to stop that monster, just like the Yondaime did. We avoided complete disaster because of him."

"A disaster that was entirely his fault to begin with." Danzo replied. "He released it for whatever reason, failing in his duty to Konoha to protect us from the Kyuubi, as was his role as its jinchuuriki. And you suggest we honor him for his foolishness. Every person who died in this village yesterday, died because of him!" Danzo finished with a yell to punctuate his point.

Tsunade looked around to see several people whispering. Even those who were still distraught over their loss had been paying close attention to their conversation. After sixteen years, most of the people had gotten over that horrible day, but this had reopened old wounds, and created new ones as well.

"There's no way he could have known this was going to happen. You can't blame him for something that he couldn't have foreseen. The Kyuubi is a fox demon, who are considered tricksters by nature. The Kyuubi is the only one at fault. It must have somehow tricked Naruto into releasing it." Tsunade tried to appeal to the gathered council members who appeared torn.

Danzo stomped his cane on the ground, getting everyone's attention. "What was there to be tricked by? It's a giant mass of evil chakra, considered by all to be a demon! Uzumaki-san should have known better than to have released it!" Danzo panted after yelling, the usually quiet shinobi surprising the gathered council members.

Tsunade slammed her hands on the table, making a large indentation. "Naruto has worked his entire life to protect this village! You have no idea what kind of life he's lived! SO DON'T STAND THERE AND TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE HE'S TRASH!"

"Uzumaki-san had received far more privileges than any other jinchuuriki! He had one job! Keep the Kyuubi contained!" Danzo shouted back as he leaned on his cane.

Danzo's voice quieted down to a whisper, "and he failed miserably in his task."

Tsunade eyes widened, shocked at the audacity of the old war veteran. However, the other members at the table, even the clan heads were beginning to nod their heads in agreement. Once Tsunade realized she was alone against the council members, she began to despair. "No, you can't do this to him. Striking a ninja's name from the Hero's Memorial is the worst possible offense that can be done to a ninja who has given their life for this village. After everything he's given for this village you can't dishonor him like this."

Iruma Harugichi, a civilian council member, spoke up from his spot towards the end of the table. "We lost so much."

Everyone turned their heads towards the new voice that had entered the heated debate. Even Danzo turned his head to hear what he had to say.

Iruma was staring blankly ahead as he whispered, still feeling the loss from yesterday. Even though he was whispering everyone could still hear him. "Sixteen years ago, I lost my wife when the Kyuubi attacked. She had been crushed underneath its clawed foot. I, like many others, harbored some resentment towards Naruto for this. However, when he became a ninja and started showing us the hero he really was, I realized my folly. But yesterday…" Iruma ducked his head as his shoulders shook and tears began to leak from his eyes.

"My daughter was just a genin. She didn't even have a year's worth of experience under her belt. She didn't stand a chance against that monster. When the tornado came…..how was she supposed to defend herself against something like that? She couldn't have possibly known what to do in a situation like that."

Iruma's eyes hardened even as the tears leaked, "But Naruto should have known better. It is as Danzo-san says: he had a job and he failed. I don't blame Naruto because he was the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki. I blame him for his poor judgment, and his failure to protect the village from the Kyuubi."

Iruma ducked his head down, shielding his eyes from view. "I vote that Naruto have his name barred from the Hero's Memorial."

Everyone seated at the table had their heads down, as almost everyone at the table had lost someone close yesterday, or sixteen years ago. One by one, hands rose in the air as people casted their vote in favor of Danzo's motion.

Tsunade looked around the room as everyone raised their hands. She was completely alone.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Danzo sighed as he walked from the council tent, and began his trek through the large gathering of civilian camps towards his personal tent. That had been a troubling experience. While banning Naruto's name from the Hero's Memorial doesn't really achieve him much, it does give a symbolic message to the Hokage and the council. He had been right.

When Sarutobi had said that Naruto would be left to his own devices, Danzo objected. He had warned the Third of the dangers of a weapon of his caliber being allowed to gain freedom of judgment; the freedom to choose how to use his power.

When Sarutobi denied Danzo's offer of registering Naruto for his ROOT program, Danzo had warned him. He told the Sandaime the risks of the child not receiving proper training that would make absolute sure of Naruto's loyalty and his ability to control the Nine Tails. If Sarutobi had just listened then…

Danzo sighed for the umpteenth time that day, 'None of this would have happened. If you would have just listened you old fool, then this catastrophe would have been avoided.'

The old war hawk lifted the flap to his tent as he entered. He nodded to the ROOT agent that was standing at attention, signaling him to leave. Once he got to the chair at the head of his table, the war veteran collapsed into the chair, exhausted from the day's events.

He felt guilty about what he did to the young genin, he really did. That young ninja had given his life to correct his mistake, and save his village, Danzo could not deny that. But it was necessary. Everyone had to be made aware the dangers of allowing someone like him too much leeway; too much freedom. Naruto spent the first twelve years of his life doing nothing when, if Danzo would have had his way, Naruto would have been a fanatic killing machine by the time all the other children were just starting to enter the academy. He would have had far better control of the Kyuubi's power. And Danzo would have made sure there would have been ZERO chance of the Kyuubi getting free.

'All that time wasted and for what? Our jinchuuriki is dead, our village is in ruins, and our people's moral is at an all time low, even lower than when the Yondaime died.'

Danzo looked towards his arm that was wrapped in bandages, flexing his hand covered in sharingans. 'You were a fool Sarutobi. Your constant blathering about allowing that boy a chance to decide his own destiny was nothing but foolish words from a foolish, idealistic old man. His destiny was decided the moment Minato sealed that creature into his belly.'

He slowly balled his hand into a fist. 'If you would have just let me train Naruto to his full potential, none of this would have happened. I thought your enormous mistake in the way you brought up Orochimaru would have driven this home.'

'In the end, Naruto has become nothing but another sacrifice in a long list of sacrifices for this village. I may have damned you in name and memory, but I'll never forget what you did for this village. Like Itachi, you'll be one of our unsung heroes.'

Danzo unclenched his fist and reached for a glass of tea that was sitting on the table. Taking a sip, he contemplated the future, 'When I become Hokage, I'll change the village so we won't need to hide people like you. You would be considered an evil, but an accepted necessary evil. I will conquer the other nations before they have a chance to start the Fourth Great Shinobi War.'

The Sharingan infested shinobi threw the cup at a nightstand on the other side of the tent, shattering the glass cup and spilling the contents all over the expensive furniture. 'And I'll crush anyone who gets in my way. I'll destroy them in both body and reputation. I swear Konoha will never be this weak again!'

Flashback End.

0o0o0o

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Sakura rose from her crouched position in front of the grave as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve. She had promised Kakashi-sensei that she would stop crying when he told her of the dangers of spending too much time mourning the dead, when she still had people to protect that were alive. Naruto's death had really driven Kakashi to try harder to fight his own addiction of mourning the past, so he could prevent his pink haired student from becoming like him. He didn't want Naruto to be her version of Obito. She still had a surviving teammate that they had to do something about. What exactly they were going to do about Sasuke remained to be seen.

In all honesty, Naruto's death had really made her examine the self-destructive path that the remaining loyal members of team seven had undertaken to save their fallen comrade. Had she driven Sasuke away because of her uselessness? Had she forced Naruto to go on a three year training trip with Jiraiya so he could pick up her slack? Did Naruto die because she couldn't do a thing against Pain and the Kyuubi?

Sakura quickly shook her head of these thoughts, lest she become lost in depression. She had to move forward. For Naruto's sake; he wouldn't be happy seeing her destroying herself like this.

She turned her back on the grave as she made the trek towards Konoha.

"I have to move forward."

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

In an underground cave, was a candlelit room. In this room, was an expensive looking table, with seven black cloaked figures seated at it. There were three seated on each side of the table with one seated at the head. All seven wore attire that was almost completely black.

The figure at the head was a small child who could be no older than twelve or thirteen. The young boy had dark black hair, and he wore an eye patch over his left eye. He also wore a black cloak that reached all the way to his shoes. He was sitting at the table with his arms at his side and a stoic expression on his face that bellied his age. His single eye was closed as he appeared to be resting. If it wasn't for the expression on his face, the other six would probably indeed believe he was sleeping.

Suddenly, his eye opened as he surveyed those gathered, "It's time."

The boy's eye traveled down the table when he heard a snort, "Tch, finally. I thought you were gonna make us wait forever." Seated in the middle of the three on the right side of the table, was a blonde haired young man who was lazily leaning back in his chair with his hands folded behind his head. This one's attire was slightly differently colored from everyone else's in that his has yellow lines running straight along the bottom edges of the cloak. He was dangerously leaning his chair backwards, and it looked like he was about to tip it over.

The young boy narrowed his eye at the blonde man, "You know the reason we had to wait, Greed. If you had any patience or any knack for strategy, maybe you would be able to comprehend this."

The blonde haired man yawned, and waved him off. Down at the far end of the table seated on the left, a bombshell red haired woman giggled at the exchange. She had the most revealing black uniform of the bunch. Hers was a low cut black short-sleeved baggy shirt that showed off her midriff, and a black miniskirt that barely reached her knees. When the now identified 'Greed' heard the giggle, he turned his head and winked at her. This stopped her giggling and she promptly turned her head away, thoroughly unamused.

When Greed saw she was upset, he started laughing, "Aw, c'mon Lust, I was just joking around."

'Lust' huffed, and crossed her arms. She shyly looked across the table to the one seated across from her who was at the very end of the right side of the table. A young youth, who like Greed, had blonde hair. He was sitting completely still, looking towards his lap. He appeared to be ignoring them all.

When Greed saw where Lust's eyes had traveled or to whom they traveled to, he decided to address him.

"Oy, newbie, what are ya staring at?" Several seconds went by, and Greed was starting to get pissed at being seemingly ignored.

"Hey, rookie, I'm talking to you."

"Wrath" The quiet blonde muttered.

Greed blinked. "What did ya say?"

The quiet blonde sighed and turned his head from staring at his lap to look at his fellow blonde sitting next to him, "My name's not newbie or rookie. It's Wrath. If were gonna work together, the least we can do is work together with some freakin respect."

Greed blinked owlishly for a moment before he grinned and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment as he realized what a jerk he was being, "Aw hell, you're right. Okay Wraaath, try not to get killed out in the field. I'd hate to have your death on my conscious."

Back towards the head of the table, sitting on the other side of Greed, a skinny black haired man who appeared to be in his late twenties shook his head at Greed's lack of communication skills. "You're one to talk. You barely ever pay attention to what Pride says at these meetings. At this rate, you'll get killed first because of missing important information. We don't have these meetings all the time because we miss each other's faces you know.

The small boy sitting at the head nodded his head in gratefulness towards the black haired man sitting at his left.

'Pride' turned his single eye back towards Greed, "What Gluttony says is true. If you don't take these meetings seriously, it could cost you in the field."

Greed once again lazily waved a hand in a shooing motion, though he was grinning in a joking manner. When he looked around the room and realized no one thought he was funny, his face took on a look of shocked indignation.

"Aw c'mon guys I was just joking around. These meetings are always so dull, what with Pride's attempt to look professional, despite the fact he's half the size of everyone in this room." The small child's glare intensified, and Greed winced slightly. In an attempt to ease the tension, he turned to the beautiful black haired girl sitting across from him. Her black cloak was more akin to a kimono. She had white porcelain skin and an odd smile on her face as she stared at…..empty space.

"Hey Sloth, you know I was just messing around, right?" When her smile turned towards him, Greed had to hold back a shudder at the fakeness of it. It just sent chills up the spine the way it didn't reach her eyes. When she failed to answer, or simply refused, Greed decided to drop the subject.

When it appeared that Greed finally had his fill of making a mockery of their meeting, Pride decided to get on with it. He turned his head to the only individual who didn't have a part in Greed's shenanigans who was sitting on Pride's left. This individual was undoubtedly the tallest person in the room, easily a head taller than the second tallest, Greed. He had Silver hair, and he wore a black trench coat and a black cap that covered most of his hair. His trench coat was buttoned up to his chin, making it hard to see any part of his face except his eyes. He was staring straight ahead with an emotionless expression.

Raising a hand, Pride gestured towards this silver haired person. "Envy has found out where the target is, however it is heavily guarded. We'll have to postpone an immediate attack and settle for accomplishing our secondary objectives."

Pride sat up a little straighter to fully grab their attention, but his small form made it hard for certain individuals to notice. "Due to a certain incident six months ago, Konoha has been left extremely weakened." Pride noticed a certain blonde's wince, but didn't say anything.

Pride's eye hardened, "One extreme weakness that they have as a result of that incident is scarcity of resources. Even though they are receiving generous loans from the Fire Daimyo, they are still in the red. We shall drive the dagger home."

Pride gestured toward Envy, who nodded back and got up to retrieve an item. When he returned, he had a bundled up paper that he laid on the table. The tall man ran his hand over the paper several times to straighten it out, revealing its contents. It was a map.

Pride stood up and pointed at a location just to the south of Konoha, near Tanzaku Town. "This is a small town called Suizaku that is a satellite village to Tanzaku-Gai. Its rather small when compared to its industrious neighbor, but that's only because very few individuals live there. The people who live there are the rich people who fund the companies who trade with Konoha in Tanzaku. Konoha makes a lot of money off of trade, especially with Tanzaku. However, if no one is funding these companies, they will either dissolve or move elsewhere."

Around the table, heads were beginning to nod as they realized where he was going with this. However Wrath decided to ask a question. "Why not just destroy Tanzaku-Gai? It wouldn't be that hard."

Pride lazily turned his eye towards the newest member. "Although destroying Tanzaku-Gai would achieve roughly the same results, it would cause too large of a scandal. We can't afford to reveal ourselves yet."

The blonde simply shrugged.

Pride turned to once more look at the black haired individual to his right. "Gluttony, I give this mission to you. You know what to do."

Gluttony gently smiled and nodded his head in understanding. He turned to head out the only entrance to the room.

Pride raised his hand as he had a last second thought.

"Wait." Gluttony stopped and looked over his shoulder to their leader.

"Take our newest member, Wrath, with you. He needs to see how this organization works."

Wrath looked from Pride to Gluttony, and then to Pride again before nodding and moving to step in line with the black haired man. The two of them headed out as the unknown group made their first move.

0o0o0o

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AN: Hello everyone. Sorry for the wait. I had a little trouble with this chapter, but this marks the very first chapter. Now the plot can finally unfold. I want everyone to know that the seven individuals at the end are all closely linked to certain citizens of the Land of Fire. This means that each one has serious history with someone. You probably noticed that I was very vague when describing their appearances. This was intentional. It'd be no fun if there was no mystery. You might be able to carefully figure out which one is Naruto, but I want to know if you can guess which persons the other six are linked to or maybe even who the other six are. You might already be able to figure out the identities of some of them. Please let me know what you come up with, because this fic will be action and suspense mixed and I want to know how good I am at keeping people guessing. Who knows, Maybe I'll even surprise some of you.


	5. The Terror of Hunger

AN: Hello everyone. Sorry for the wait. I don't really have a reasonable excuse besides, well, school. I'm glad to see that some of you made some guesses as to who the organization's members were. I'm extremely pleased, but I'm afraid I can't tell you if any of you were right. That would ruin the suspense. Please, continue guessing their identities and maybe even take a crack at who they are supposed to be connected to. I'll try to answer a few questions though. And thank you all for your reviews. I never really understood the importance of reviews until I started getting them. Now I understand fanfiction authors' obsession with them. Know that each review is greatly appreciated.

Xdeath-godX: Yes they do have special 'powers' as you will see in this chapter.

Outkast000: I'm still not sure on the pairing for this story, but when I find out, I'll let you all know.

Dark Vizard 447: They are sorta related to homunculus, but that is where the crossover with FMA comes from. Please note though that other than the titles (Pride, Wrath, Gluttony, etc.) there is very little other connection to FMA.

Chapter 5: The Terror of Hunger

Two figures wearing dark cloaks walked casually through the cover of darkness as they headed towards the small town of Suizaku. A village full of rich citizens who had decided to hold the heart of their business there. This way, they could send messages to their corporations in Tanzaku, while staying at home and reaping the benefits in their own form of a vacation resort. By staying separate from the poorer civilians, they didn't have to worry about receiving flak for flaunting their wealth. There only neighbors were either other rich people or indentured servants that had been afforded small houses to be allowed to live relatively comfortably.

Coming to a stop in a clearing less than a mile from the entrance to the village, the slightly taller, dark haired figure turned to the blonde young man. "Are you sure you want to come with me? I can do this alone if you're bothered by it." The black haired man said with concern evident in his voice.

The blonde didn't bother to turn his head as he replied with a snort, "And give the one-eyed kid a chance to bitch at me, tch, yeah right."

Gluttony sighed, "I know you have never done anything like this before, and it's not going to be pretty. We can't let anyone escape; this is your last chance to sit this one out. I promise I won't tell Pride."

Wrath's features hardened as he continued to stare ahead, "I knew what I was getting into when I joined you guys."

The blonde turned to look at Gluttony, "There's no going back, I can do this."

Gluttony stared long and hard at the newest member of their organization, before he finally smiled gently, "Very well. I'll do most of the work; just get rid of any stragglers or runners.

Gluttony turned to stare straight ahead once more. Straight ahead to Suizaku, "Keep a containment on the village; I'll go house to house."

Wrath nodded grimly. As one, they resumed their silent trek towards Suizaku. By the time they arrived, it would be very early in the morning and the sun would just begin to rise. Everyone would likely just start getting up to prepare for the day. Wrath tried not to think of what the villagers would be thinking if they realized that not a single one of them would live to see the sun set.

There was no turning back.

0o0o0o

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Youko, a middle aged brunette, was humming to herself as she walked home from the grocery store after getting some items before the early morning rush set in. She had hoped to get some ingredients to make her husband's favorite meal tonight, and was positive that there would be no shoppers this early, and she was right. She glanced down at her secret ingredient in the basket hanging off her arm as she hummed to herself, steam-grilled teriyaki.

'I wonder what Daiki would say if he knew I was making his favorite meal with teriyaki' she thought to herself as she giggled.

She was nearing her house, which was situated at the edge of town, near the entrance, when she came to a stop as she noticed something odd. The two men who were supposed to be guarding the gate were not at their posts.

Youko sighed to herself as she thought of the enthusiastic youths who had the early morning guard shift. 'Probably off gambling again. Heavens, they're so irresponsible. They should have at least asked someone to take over why they indulge in their addiction.'

She scrunched her eyebrows when she noticed the light fog picking up around the gate. 'Strange, we've never had fog before.'

Feeling slightly nervous, she decided to take a shortcut home, as she quickened her pace to a light jog. The fog was becoming thicker.

She sighed in relief as she spotted her large house. She slowed down just a little as some of the tension eased from her mind. Opening her door, which she failed to notice was unlocked she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

"Daiki-kun I'm home!" She announced, as she took off her jacket and hung it on a hanger. Slipping off her shoes, to avoid dirtying the expensive rug, she set them to the side. She also carefully set her basket on the chair by the door.

She frowned when he didn't answer. Did she miss him? He wasn't scheduled to head for his meeting for another two hours. She decided to check the kitchen.

"Daiki-kun, I got the stuff to make your favorite-" She froze when she entered the kitchen and she spotted a handsome dark haired man in his late twenties or early thirties standing in the middle of her kitchen. He was looking out the window into her backyard with a vacant expression, but when he heard her gasp, he turned and smiled gently at her, the corners of his mouth tipping up slightly. They were covered in blood.

Lying at his feet was the mangled corpse of her husband, barely recognizable due to the many missing pieces of flesh from his body. Dark red holes dotted his form in various places, and his expression was one of terror. It was easy to tell his last moments were not peaceful

The dark haired man took a calm step towards her, carefully dodging the corpse. He was still smiling gently at her. If it wasn't for the blood that dotted the corners of his mouth, she, might actually have found it to be a smile only a charming man could have. "Good morning. My apologies for imposing on you like this, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to scream for me."

"Wh-what a-are, wh-what, I-I" She stammered as he took another step towards her. She slowly backed up, terrified, until her back hit the wall.

He came to a stop a couple feet from her. She stared in abject horror as his jaw parted down the middle in two places. His chin split into two pieces, and his cheeks near his jaw line opened up as well. He now had four mandible-like feelers as his mouth, lined with row upon row of jagged teeth.

She screamed an ear-splitting scream as he lunged at her. She continued to scream for the next few seconds. And then…

The screams stopped.

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Hibiki, the young well-respected head of Hibiki Stock Collections, was a man in his mid twenties who was trying to keep the shouting match between his employees to a civilized level. Despite his age, he had the regal look of a leader, and had dark red hair. He had decided to call an early meeting with the upper echelons of his firm in order to discuss a way to take advantage of the huge loan that they had given to Konoha. He jumped up in alarm, along with everyone else around him when he heard the scream that stretched across the village. All the other members looked at each other in confusion as to who was screaming.

"That sounded like Kouko, Daiki's wife!" Said one of the older employees sitting at the table. Everyone started muttering to themselves, as they wondered what it could mean. "Something might have happened to her, let's go check it out!"

There were sounds of agreement as all eleven members of the table got up in unison and briskly made their way to the sound of the scream. As soon as they exited the building, they noticed that there was a great deal of other people who had come to the same conclusion, and were looking towards the sound of the scream with confusion. They all looked towards the dense fog that was covering the section that Daiki and Kouko lived in with bewildered expressions.

"Fog…but we never get-" Hibiki was cut off by another ear-piercing scream that tore through the village. He gasped and began to take several steps towards the sound as everyone looked at each other in fear. They started to follow him, but stopped as soon as a third scream echoed around them.

"Wh…what's going on?" someone from the crowd stammered. Hibiki barely gifted him a glance before several screams sounded through the air at once. They wanted to investigate, but something in all of their guts was telling them not to enter that fog. Not to go into an area where you have no visibility. Not to go into a place where you can't see your attacker coming.

Hibiki was the first to break the spell as he took a few steps towards the fog that was slowly encompassing the village, getting ever closer to this side of town.

Before he could get any closer, his assistant grabbed his shoulder,

"Wait! You don't know what's out th-" He was silenced by a shuriken that flew from the fog and brutally tore into his throat. Hibiki's assistant gurgled up blood as he fell to the floor. Everyone stared in muted horror at the fallen man, and then they all felt a presence from within the fog. Looking up, they spotted the shadow of a man. Before they could get a better look at him, a horde of shuriken flew from the fog into the crowd of gathered people, killing many, and maiming others.

People began screaming and panicking as a continuous stream of shuriken launched into them, picking them off.

Hibiki turned around and crouched low to the ground as he yelled, "Quick! Everyone get to the Mayor's Villa!"

Everyone who still had enough wits about them to heed his order turned and ran for the villa that was located at the center of town. Others went for their homes, preferring the safety of a familiar environment to the sure target that would be the mayor's villa. A large stream of people scrambled to get to their destinations, trampling over the dead and living alike as they dodged the array of shuriken.

As Hibiki ran, he briefly turned to look back at the fog, and thought that he saw a blonde young man standing within the dense covering.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Gluttony stood up, and wiped his mouth with the edge of his sleeve. He looked down at the young man whose body was mangled and torn in several places, almost like he had been mauled by a veloci raptor. His eyes were wide open and his mouth agape as he stared blankly at the sky. Gently, Gluttony bent down and ran his hand over his eyes, shutting them.

Placing his hands into the pockets on the inside of his cloak, he calmly stood up and walked towards the center of town. Looking to his right, he saw Wrath step from the shadows to move in transit with him to their destination.

"Anyone get away?"

Wrath looked at him with a frown, "No"

Gluttony couldn't tell whether he was frowning because he had questioned his abilities, or if he was frowning because he had succeeded in his task. Gluttony was willing to bet it was the latter.

"Did you funnel them towards the villa like we planned?" Gluttony asked. They had agreed that it would be best to trick them into trying to hide in a place that they would believe was the most secure location in the village. The villa seemed like the most logical choice that they would run to, so Wrath went out of his way to leave avenues open for the civilians that lead to it. Trap all of them in one location. It would be easier that way. And quicker.

Wrath nodded his head, "I did; most of them are currently holed up at the villa. But some of them are hiding in their houses."

Gluttony merely smiled, "Don't worry, I'll take care of the ones in the houses first. Just keep doing what you're doing. Make sure no one in the villa gets the bright idea to leave their hidey hole."

Wrath merely nodded his compliance. Gluttony took off full speed for the nearest house, smiling all the way.

0o0o0o

0o0o0o

Hibiki was currently making rounds trying to shush everyone hiding in the safe room in a vain attempt to remain in control, since the mayor was too terrified to take charge. The safe room was hidden beneath the basement. The room lay at the bottom of a secret wooden staircase, and the top of the stairs was covered by a secret panel, which was in turn covered by a rug. Also, all the militia in the village had taken it upon themselves to set up guard stations within the villa, setting up barricades in strategic areas in case the guy with shuriken came knocking.

Hibiki had finally managed to quiet down the last of them, but many were still sobbing quietly in horror. There were maybe thirty people here in the room. Everybody else was hiding in their homes. They had only been in here about half an hour, and the entire duration of the time was spent listening to their fellow villagers scream bloody murder. By the way they were screaming, he would think they were being tortured to death, instead of simply being killed by shuriken. In fact, Hibiki did not believe that the death screams he was hearing was the result of shuriken.

Recently, the intervals between screams lengthened. Which could only mean one thing: there was barely anyone outside the villa still alive. Everyone else in the room seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion, because something else began to terrify them even more than the screams. It terrified them so bad that several had started shaking to the point that it appeared they were experiencing an epileptic seizure. It made them wish that someone out there would scream so that they knew that whatever was out there was busy killing someone else. The thing that terrified them could be heard like a ringing in their ears.

Silence….deafening silence….

Suddenly, they heard an ear-piercing scream. But instead of placating them, it only served to drive the dagger of fear deeper into their hearts. Some of the men and women were openly crying now.

That scream had come from inside the villa.

As if a symphony of sound, they heard echoes of screams spring up around the house, along with shouts from the officers in charge. A war was going on in the upper levels of the villa. And the militia was losing.

It wasn't long before the shouting ended, and then there was only screams. Eventually, even that ended. Once more, nothing but an evil silence whispered in their ears.

They all began to silently hush themselves as they huddled together, placing their hands over each other's mouths to silence their breathing. Some of them were so terrified that they began hyperventilating as hands were placed over their mouths. Although it looked like they were about to pass out from lack of oxygen, the others dare not remove their hands. In all honesty, it would likely be far more preferable to be smothered by your neighbor than face whatever was out there.

There was the creaking noise of a foot walking on wood and they all knew he was in the basement directly above them. Several seconds passed in muted silence as they waited and hoped he wouldn't find the rug concealing the secret door. Eventually they heard the sound of a latch clicking, and one woman couldn't stop her gasp. The figure walked down the wooden stairway, making creaking sounds on the stairs as he went. Eventually he came to a stop at the only closed door to the room, casting a shadow over it that let everyone inside know he was right outside.

Eventually, he gently opened the door in and stood before them all, mouth dripping with blood. They backed as far away as they could into the other corner of the safe room. Away from the man that reeked of death, whose clothes were stained with blood.

The corners of his lips upturned as he took a step in, "Greetings everyone. I hope that I'm not being too much of a bother by dropping in unannounced like this."

One woman finally succumbed to fear and fainted on the spot with a small cry.

Gluttony glanced at her with a look of surprise etched on his face. He looked down at his clothes and blinked owlishly as if just now noticing the blood that was splattered on his cloak. He looked back up and smiled slightly, "My apologies, I must look an absolute mess."

He took another step forward, and they backed up even further. Some were even trying to climb over each other to get farther away from the monster.

Hibiki decided to take a chance and reason with him….no….it. "Wh-what do you want? We c-can give you money, titles. Hell, just take our whole fortunes if you want! Just please, leave us be!" Hibiki ended with a cry.

The dark haired man merely smiled a sad smile at him before replying, "I'm sorry, but this is not a negotiation. Please accept my sincerest apologies for this, but you might want to spend your last moments praying, not begging."

With that his smile twisted into something straight from their darkest nightmares as his mouth split apart down the chin and across his jaw line, revealing four sets of razor sharp teeth lined along mandible-like feelers. They all screamed together as he descended on them.

0o0o0o

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Wrath stood outside the entrance to the villa as he listened to the sound of screams coming from within. His expression was stony as he surveyed the gate with an intense stare. It was over now. The entire process had taken no more than two hours. They had agreed not to use jutsu as there was a chance it could start a massive fire. While the screams had been pretty loud, the sound could only travel so far. But smoke could be seen over large distances. They didn't want to make to huge of a scene.

Everything had gone perfectly to plan…but it was still a sobering experience. The entire event showed Wrath exactly what kind of group he had agreed to join, and made him realize that, after today, there truly was no going back. That was likely part of Pride's plan all along though. Shock the newbie into loyalty by making him become part of a massacre.

Wrath clenched his fist tightly. 'I truly hate that kid.'

He looked up to see Gluttony calmly walking from the front door to the villa towards him. He saw Wrath and smiled while nodding his head in greeting. Wrath noticed the blood stained garments but what drew his attention was the dried, caked blood on Gluttony's lips. Wrath resisted the urge to let the cold shiver that crawled up his spine show on his person. Imagining the fate of those in the villa was not a pleasant thought.

Reaching a finger towards his own face, Wrath gestured to his own mouth. Gluttony seemed confused for a second before his eyes briefly widened in realization. He reached up and wiped the blood from his lips with his drenched sleeve.

After getting all the blood from his lips, he dipped his head in gratitude, before moving to leave the town. Wrath fell in step beside him.

Together, they left the ghost town filled with corpses. They walked casually away from the once economically powerful village of Suizaku.

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AN: I hope that it was enjoyable, please tell me how I did. Oh by the way, if you're having a hard time imagining what Gluttony's mouth looks like, I would believe the best comparison comes from the monsters from Blade 2, or maybe a Predator. I know that killing a bunch of villagers doesn't seem very impressive for showing off the group's first extension of power, but please note: they are very strong. I don't believe you will be disappointed in that area. Also, the reason for the shorter length is that I found this to be a good place to stop, and I honestly have not really found a pattern for chapter length yet. I am still new to this writing stuff and have yet to find a good medium for chapters. So, I'm just going to write until I find good areas to stop.


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